


Black has All the Colours

by xXJellybeanXx



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017), The Darkest Minds Series - Alexandra Bracken
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Darkest Minds, Angst, Archie Andrews is a Good Friend, Attempt at Humor, Betty Copper also Needs a Hug, F/M, Fluff, Gen, How Do I Tag, Jughead Jones Needs a Hug, Sorry Not Sorry, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2019-08-14 02:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16484300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXJellybeanXx/pseuds/xXJellybeanXx
Summary: Darkest Minds AU.There a disease is killing America's children. The ones who survived are the ones the Government was scared of. Because they had changed...10-year-old Betty Copper was sitting on a bus that they would eventually be painted black. She was squished next to a boy and another girl. She did something that made her parents lock her in the garage and taken by them. She didn't know what only that she can get stuck in people's heads and she takes the memories she sees with her.10-year-old Jughead Jones was on that same bus. Somehow, he had managed to set his bed on fire with his hands. Somehow, he wasn't burned but was still on fire. Somehow, when he screamed, it disappeared. Now fire seemed appealing, in a way it never was before.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm back. 
> 
> I'm sorry if it's bad. It's a bit of Jughead/ Archie centric at the moment
> 
> Warning, I'm Australian. I spelling things differently, eg: color I spell colour
> 
> I. Own. Nothing.
> 
> (expect the idea of the Darkest Minds/ Riverdale. That's my idea)

**Grace was the first one to die.**

 

Not really, but she was the first one that Betty and her fellow 4th graders saw die. They were sitting at lunch and were debating about whether or not there was a fly in her jelly cup or Grace had put a piece of candy in it. Betty was about to voice her opinion when Grace froze. She was staring at something beyond her head.

 

Then her eyes rolled back into her head.

 

Then she fell off the chair.

 

Everyone went quiet.

 

The nurses that were always patrolling the playground came rushing over.

 

A boy nudged Grace’s lifeless body.

 

_Dead._

 

Children were screaming and running.

 

Betty was frozen to her seat.

 

She only moved when a nurse pulled her away.

 

Then it was Polly.

 

Betty’s older sister.

 

Betty looked up to her.

 

She died the same way.

 

_“Polly are you okay?”_

 

The Disease was called IAAN.

 

The ones who survived were the ones the Government was scared of.

 

President St. Clair ordered that all children who survived were to be taken to ‘rehabilitaion camps’. Really, they were more like prisons. The worse part was, the parents didn’t know that.

 

* * *

 

Now, 10-year-old Betty Copper was sitting on a bus that they would eventually be painted black. She was squished next to a boy and another girl.

 

The girl next to her was sobbing.

 

The boy was emotionless.

 

Betty tried to look at his face to see if he was silently crying like her but there was no emotion on his face. None. Maybe a hint of concentration.

 

_That’s odd. He should at least look scared._

 

Betty felt the warmth.

 

She looked down to try to find where it came from.

 

The reason the boy looked emotionless.

 

A tongue of fire was dancing on his fingers.

 

Betty was scared.

 

_He can make fire?! What are we?_

 

It disappeared.

 

Now the boy was crying.

 

His black hair moved over his eyes and Betty couldn’t see them anymore.

 

The girl next to her accidentally touched her hand and that’s all it took. She was in the girls head.

 

She saw who must have been the girl's parents. She saw the people taking her. She heard screaming and crying.

 

Betty pulled out.

 

“Okay Freaks!” yelled a soldier.

 

“GO SCREW YOURSELF!!” yelled an older kid at the back of the bus.

 

_Bang_

 

The kid was dead.

 

People started screaming

 

“Damn,” whispered the boy next to her.

 

“SILENCE!”

 

The screaming stopped.

 

“Now, we are going to grade you all either Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange or Red. One step out of line. You’re dead. You talk, you’re dead. You use your freakish powers. You’re dead. Got it?” everyone nodded.

 

They were marched out of the bus in groups.

 

The girl that Betty was sitting next to was still crying.

 

The boy still looked emotionless. Betty saw his blue eyes.

 

They were full of dread.

 

There were kids who had Orange ‘X’s on their backs. They were chained together with muzzles on. There were kids with Red ‘X’s on their backs too. The had their hands cuffed together and covered with metal. The emotionless boy had emotions for the first time.

 

Worry. Fear.

 

The kids with yellow, green and blue ‘X’s on their backs were walking free.

 

An Orange broke free. He stopped when he saw Betty. He smiled. He knew that she was like him. Betty didn’t want to be like him.

 

_I don’t want to be a monster. Not like him._

* * *

 

 

The night before they took him, he was sick.

 

That same night, his bed was on fire.

 

He woke up to the smell of burning material. He screamed when it touched his skin, waiting for the burn.

 

None came. The fire disappeared.

 

They took him to the hospital.

 

The PSFs took him from there.

 

_“What’s your name boy?”_

 

_“Forsythe Jones but I_ ** _hate_** _it. I prefer Jughead. It’s better than Forsythe,”_

 

_“Did you set that fire?”_

 

_“No silly. The lamp did… I think. My hands were hot. I think they were on fire. But Mom said it was because I was sick,”_

 

_“How sick?”_

 

_“Dad said not to talk to strangers. And you're strange so, I’m not going to talk to you anymore,”_

 

They shoved him on a bus and shoved a blonde girl next to him and another girl next to her.

 

Like everyone else, she was crying.

 

He wanted to hit her for crying.

 

But she was so pretty.

 

Jughead got bored so he tried to make a fire in his hands.

 

_Maybe that’s why they took me. Maybe I started the fire._

 

Like magic, there was a fire in his hands. A small tongue dancing on his fingertips.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Jughead could see the girl sitting next to him.

 

She looked terrified.

 

_She’s scared of me. She’s scared of what I_ _could do. I don’t want to be a monster. I want to be normal._

 

* * *

 

When it was Betty’s turn she was scared.

 

“What’s your name?” the doctor asked.

 

“Elizabeth Cooper,” she said. She hated how weak her voice sounded.

 

“Okay Elizabeth, we are going to run some tests. Have you ever had a head injury?”

 

“No,”

 

“Well, this is what we do when someone has a head injury. We put them in this machine so we can see in their head,”

 

Betty started to tremble.

 

_They will be able to see what I am in my head_

 

“Now Elizabeth, can you remember things very well? Like it’s a picture in your head? Greens have very good memories,”

 

“I’m a Green!” Betty said. “I’m a Green,”

 

She was suddenly in the doctor’s head.

 

She saw him and a little girl. Then she saw that little girl lying in a bed.

 

_She’s dead._

 

“Okay,” he said.

 

“Turn around.”

 

He sprayed a Green ‘X’ on her back.

 

Betty smiled. She wasn’t going to die.

 

They took her to the cabin. Most of the girls were crying. Betty tried not to. She knew that it was going to be hard.

 

* * *

 

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“Forsythe Jones,”

 

He had to spell it for the doctor.

 

“Now Forsythe, what can you do? Anything special?”

 

Jughead looked at the computer.

 

_I could make it blow up._

 

When he touched it, the computer fizzed and then it exploded into flames.

 

“Yellow,” the doctor said.

 

_What? Aren’t the people who can make fire Red?_

 

“Turn around. I need to spray an ‘X’ on your back so the PSFs know what you are.”

 

They walked him to a group of boys with Yellow ‘X’s too.

 

Jughead heard whispers.

 

_“He’s different. They graded him wrong.”_

 

_“How do you know that?”_

 

_“He has the electrical current of my shoe, can’t you feel? He’s not a Yellow.”_

 

When they took them to the cabin, everyone was silent. No one said anything. Everyone just stared. At Jughead.

 

“What are you?” a boy asked. He had red hair and an explosion of freckles.

 

“Umm, human?” Jughead said. Some boys sniggered.

 

“No, I mean what colour are you? You’re not a Yellow. What are you?” the boy pushed.

 

“You know what? I don’t have to tell you. It’s their fault that I’m here. They will kill us. I know it. They want us dead. So we shouldn’t fight each other just because we are not the same. We will die anyway. They will tell our parents that we were affected by the disease and died later. I don’t know what they are going to do to us, but all I know is that they are going to kill the dangerous ones and make hell for everyone else,” Jughead said. Everyone looked at him.

 

“Damn,” someone said.

 

“Okay,” The redhead said. “Well then, I’m Archie,” he said extending his hand to Jughead.

 

Jughead stared at it.

 

“Jughead. Don’t ask. It’s not my real name. But my real name is worse,” he said still looking at Archie’s hand.

 

“You shake it.”

 

“I know that. I just don’t want to.”

 

“Oh, okay then.”

 

“We should go to sleep. We’re going to hell tomorrow.”

 

“That’s deep.”

 

“Shut up Archie.”

 

* * *

_Six years later…_

_~_

 

“Jughead wake up it’s 5 o’clock,” Archie whispered shaking Jughead.

 

“Nooooooo,” Jughead groaned and rolled out of the bed onto the floor, catching himself at the last minute.

 

“It’s been what 6, 7 years and you still can’t get out of bed at 5?”

 

“Every day is the same. Why not start it the same?”

 

“Why do you always answer a question with a question?”

 

Jughead shrugged. “It’s been drilled into me for a long time. 6 years did you say? We must be 16. Happy Birthday,”

 

“That was random.”

 

“Do you expect any less?”

 

Archie smiled.

 

“How’s the fire powers going?” Archie whispered knowing that the other boys would sell Jughead out.

 

“Good, I think. No longer have to blame the sun. You know, I believe you and I have acquired at least 1 billion freckles in the last 6 years thanks to the sun.”

 

“Damnit Sun! But for you, they are like little dots.”

 

“You two, hurry up,” called one of the boys. “Oh and shut up before you get us all in trouble.”

 

“Yeah, Archie. Come on I’m hungry,” Jughead said pulling Archie with him.

 

They were marched to breakfast by a PSF. Someone whispered something and that was it.

 

A noise ripped through all their heads.

 

Everyone fell to the ground and grabbed their heads.

 

Pain was making its way through Jughead’s body. He felt like he was being burned and torn apart at the same time. Archie grabbed his hands to stop him from subconsciously ripping his hair out. Somehow, Archie and the other Yellows weren’t as affected.

 

When they finally arrived in the mess hall, no one had an appetite any more. Jughead managed to look around. The Reds and Oranges were gone.

 

After they ate, they were marched to the gate. The Yellow girls were there too. Archie and Jughead shared a look. There were two buses waiting for them. They were crammed onto them. Every Yellow male in the complect was crammed onto the one bus. Five to a seat almost and most people standing. Jughead was relieved when he and Archie managed to get a set next to a window and each other. 

 

“Where do you think the Reds and Oranges went?” Archie whispered.

 

“Heaven or hell,” Jughead responded matter-of-factly. 

 

“What?!” Archie almost yelled.

 

“Shh, you dumbass. I think they’re dead. Killed by the PSFs for being ‘dangerous’. And if you keep talking, so will you. So shut up for the trip to our new Hell on Earth. May we suffer for all our sins and abandon hope. Being born was our worse decision,” Jughead said. 

 

Archie stared at him. “Okay then,” Archie said sounding freaked out. 

 

It was night time when they reached their new facility.

 

“Ha,” Jughead whispered to Archie. “There should be a sign that says ‘Abandon Hope all Ye who Enters here’.”

 

“Can you please stop making jokes about things that are clearly  _ not  _ funny?” Archie asked.

 

“What? Sardonic humour is just my way of relating to the world. Like the world, it is twisted and irrelevant,” Jughead responded. “And if we keep talking we are going to die.”

 

They were shoved off the bus and walked into a building. They were warned about talking and were left. 

 

“Damn. Not even a goodnight or dinner? No? Okay then be cold as ice,” Jughead said to no one.

 

“Jug, the PFSs are gone,” Archie said.

 

“I  _ know  _ that Archie. God, do you think I’m dumb or something?”

 

“No.”

 

“Then stop implying it,” Jughead snapped back. Archie looked hurt.

 

“I’m sorry Arch, it’s just. I don’t know. I think I’m scared,” Jughead admitted.

 

Archie smiled and was about to say something when Jughead cut him off. “Excuse me, I admitted something that was painful to say out loud and you laugh? What kind of best friend are you?”

 

“Yours.”

 

“True.”

 

Everyone was in their allocated bunks. Just like in their old camp, Jughead and Archie shared the same bunk. 

 

“What do you think they are going to do to us?” Archie asked. Jughead thought. He was glad Archie wasn’t an Orange and be able to hear his thoughts. 

 

_ They are going to work us into the ground. Work us until we die. _

 

“I don’t know Arch. But I do know something. We need to get out of here. We  _ all  _ need to get out of here. Everyone,” He said.

 

“Hear hear,” came a voice.

 

That was the night they formulated their plan. 

 

Their plan to escape.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Great Escape of Jughead and Archie and Betty feeling the consequences of said escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm back with Chapter Two of this story!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

One thing that they knew is that Jughead was right. The PSFs were trying to work them into the ground. To break them. Every night they would talk about escaping. About being free.

 

Except, it was becoming a fantasy. It had been months since they came up with the plan. Everyone was exhausted and starving.

 

“Manual labour sucks,” Jughead said one night. “We are kids. We should be learning not working our asses off for the fucking PSFs.”

 

“We know Jug. We know,” Archie responded. “I think even school would be better than this.”

 

“Oh no, school _is_ better than this. We have the education of _10-year-olds_. How embarrassing,” Jughead said. His stomach growled. It reminded him that he hadn’t eaten since the night before. He pulled his tired legs to his stomach. He knew that all of the boy’s he shared the dorm with had definitely lost too much weight since they got here. He knew because sometimes, he could barely recognise himself. Cheeks hollow and skin ashen and covered in grime and he could feel each of his ribs individually.

 

Every day the White Noise rips through their heads. Some kids have forgotten how to speak or just chose not to.

 

Everyone had been quiet for ages when Archie said, “Jug, you up?”. He had climbed up the ladder and was looking at Jughead with a concerned look. “We’re doing it. We’re escaping tonight. You need to set a fire under the smoke detector so the doors will open.”

 

Jughead just looked at Archie.

 

“You told then I’m a Red?” he snapped.

 

“No. Well, I told them you could set fires and they assumed you were a Red,” Archie said. Fury was boiling in Jughead’s chest.

 

“I told you not to tell anyone no matter what!” he yelled. “You promised! We made a pact! And you broke that! If I die because of that, my blood is on your hands!”

 

Jughead felt tears prick in his eyes. He trusted Archie with his life. Literally.

 

“I’m sorry,” Archie whispered. “But you said you’d be willing to do anything to get out of here.”

 

Jughead felt his hands heat up. “Fine, I’ll do it. But I’m not guaranteeing that you won't get burnt.”

 

He pulled himself up from the bed and climbed down the ladder. By then his hands were smoking. Archie slowly stepped back. Jughead didn’t know why he was so mad with Archie. Normally he could control his emotions well enough to not feel anything.  He didn’t know why he suddenly felt. He didn’t know why he felt so mad at Archie even though he knew he meant no harm.

 

The boys had sheets piled under the smoke detector. Jughead crouched down next to them and concentrated. Jughead’s already hot hand heated up even more. His hands exploded into flames and some people screamed. He touched the sheets and they burst into flames.

 

He stood up and observed his work. Smoke was filling the room.

 

“Well done Jug,” Archie said about to pat his back he changed his mind. Jughead looked at Archie. He was scared of him.

 

_Am I that terrifying? Will people always be afraid of me? Why can’t I be normal?_

 

The smoke alarm went off and the doors popped open. Everyone ran from the room. In the hallway, kids from other colours were running towards the door as well. When they got outside, Jughead started to run towards the gates. Jughead looked around for PSFs.

 

_Where are they? Shouldn’t they be here?_

 

Jughead continued to push through the crowd (which was easy with red-hot hands) so he could melt the gate open.

 

_Come on concentrate. Control yourself. Don’t burn everyone._

 

He stood at the gate. Kids were congregating around him. Archie yelled at them to move back. Jughead looked at the lock mechanism.

 

_I can do this_

 

A gun went off. Someone screamed

 

_I can’t do this. What was I thinking?_

 

* * *

 

 

Jughead, Archie and a small girl were running through the forest.

 

“Jug, I think we are far enough away!” Archie said.

 

“Just keep running,”

 

“Jug, I don’t think your sister can keep running,” Archie said looking at the small girl. She was barely keeping up when she tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground with a thump.

 

“Jug, she fell over,”

 

Jughead stopped running and turned around and walked back to the girl.

 

“Are you okay Jellybean?”

 

The girl nodded.

 

“Funny, she hasn’t said a word since we left,” Archie said.

 

“Jellybean, you can talk now. We’re out of the camp,” Jughead said.

 

Jellybean shook her head. She didn’t want to talk.

 

“Please? How can we know what you want?”

 

Jellybean gave her older brother a blank look and shrugged. She looked at Archie and pointed at him and shrugged her shoulders.

 

“You want to know who he is?” Jughead asked. Jellybean nodded.

 

“He’s Archie. He helped with the escape.”

 

Jellybean smiled at Archie then pointed at her yellow uniform then pointed at Archie.

 

“Yeah, I’m also a Yellow,” Archie said crouching down next to her. Jellybean hugged him.

 

“Wow. You hug a stranger but not your older brother?” Jughead asked.

 

Jellybean smiled and let go of Archie and latched herself onto Jughead.

 

“Wait. How old are you now?”

 

Jellybean picked up a stick and drew in the dirt a 13.

 

“Wow, you’re a teenager now,” Jughead said.

 

She nodded.

 

“Jug, what are we going to do now? We don’t have anything,” Archie said.

 

“Maybe we should keep going and try to find the closest town. Then we will come up with a plan,” Jughead said trying to look confident when really, he wasn’t. He was the complete opposite.

 

They trudged on for another couple of hours. Jughead had a list of complaints about the walk but kept them to himself. One of the complaints was how hungry he is. Painfully hungry. Having not eaten for two days will do that to you.  

 

The forest started to thin out and what looked like a small town appeared.

 

“How cute,” Archie said tiredly.

 

Jellybean pulled Jughead’s sleeve and pointed at the town.

 

“Wait, I think I know this place,” Jughead said.

 

Jellybean rolled her eyes and gave Jughead a ‘are you serious’ look.

 

“What?” he asked her.

 

Jellybean mouthed home.

 

“Home? What -” Jughead stopped. He looked at the small town again. Jughead dragged his memory and looked at it again. It looked like a perfect childhood memory. Then he saw the sign.

 

“Oh my God. I am so blind,” he said.

 

Jellybean giggled.

 

“This is Riverdale. This our home Jellybean.”

 

Jellybean nodded still giggling.

 

“What? You lived here?”

 

“Yeah, well on the other side of town. The Southside. It’s practically shit but, hey, it’s home,” Jughead said with fake enthusiasm.

 

“Well, maybe you and Jellybean should go see if you’re folks still live here. I’ll go see if the convenes store is closed and steel some stuff,” Archie said.

 

“Don’t die,” Jughead said.

 

“I’ll try not to. Oh and, if you find your parents, met me behind the town hall. Take as long as you need. There might be more kids around but I promise not to go anywhere without you both,” Archie said.

 

“Thanks, bro,” Jughead said.

 

Jughead and Jellybean made their way towards the Southside without being seen. The slipped into the old trailer park and Jellybean pulled Jughead over to a trailer that looked very familiar and banged on the door. Jughead saw that she had her fingers crossed behind her back and a very hopeful expression on her face. Jughead looked around for people. The door cracked open.

 

“Who is it,” a woman asked. She looked at Jughead and Jellybean gobsmacked.

 

Jellybean launched herself onto the woman.

“Jellybean? Is that you?” the woman asked.

 

Jellybean smiled and nodded frantically.

 

“She’s not speaking,” Jughead said.

 

“Jughead?” the woman stopped hugging Jellybean and looked at him. (Jellybean protested by crushing her in a hug)

 

“Yeah. That’s me,” Jughead said sheepishly. Of course, he knew who this woman is. She was his mother.

 

“Oh my God it is you,” she said looking him up and down. “You’re so tall now.” Jughead gave her a small smile.

 

“FP, come here,” Gladys said pulling Jughead and Jellybean inside. “Sit down while I find your father.”

 

Jughead looked around his childhood home. The place where he experienced his powers for the first time. He hears footsteps and looked up. FP was standing at the doorway to the living room gobsmacked.

 

“W-what are you two doing here?” he asked as he hugged Jellybean who had latched herself to him. “Are you better? Why are you covered in dirt? What happened?”

 

Jughead explained to them that no they were not ‘cured’ nor were the camps trying to cure them.

 

“They are like hell on Earth. They have no regard for our lives or whether or not we will survive long enough to be cured. They have been killing kids and torturing us if we don’t cooperate,” Jughead said with Jellybean nodding along.

 

“So, you’re not better?” FP asked.

 

“If by better you mean powerless, no. We're not,” Jughead respond.

 

“So, what are these superpowers?”

 

“FP please.”

 

“No Mom it’s okay,” Jughead said. “I’m a Red. I, umm, have pyrokinesis. That’s making and controlling fire. And Jellybean is a Yellow. She had electrokinesis. That’s controlling electricity.”

 

“Then how come you are in yellow if you are not a Yellow as you call it,” Gladys asked.

 

“They graded me wrong. But that’s good. They killed all the Reds,” Jughead said.

 

“So, you two need gloves, clothes and food,” Gladys said. Jughead remembered how hungry he was. “Well, I’ll get the clothes and food and gloves for Jellybean. FP, give Jughead a pair of motorcycle gloves,” Gladys said. Jughead smiled.

 

_God, I wish we could stay here forever._

 

Gladys managed to buy enough food for a family to last a week and clothes for two kids without suspicion. The clothes were simple. Jughead was glad to be out of the uniform and into normal, clean clothes. His dad gave him a pair of motorcycle gloves. Jughead was about to leave when he grabbed his arm.

 

“Jug, wait,” he said holding what looked like a leather jacket. “This is for you. It’s a Serpent jacket. It was mine but the Serpents fell in the economic crash. I want you to have it.”

 

Jughead took the worn leather jacket. He turned it so he could see the snake that used to cause so many problems for him and his family. He didn’t want to be rude so he put it on. At that moment, Gladys walked in.

 

“Jug. Oh, that’s what you wanted to give him. Well, it suits you Jughead,” she said looking uncomfortable.

 

“I can take it off,” Jughead said taking it off.

 

“No, no. I just wanted to give you something too,” she said. Only then did Jughead realises that she was holding something made from grey wool.

 

“I was going to give it to you on your 10th birthday then I realised that it was too big for you. I think it would fit you now,” she said giving him the woollen thing.

 

Jughead looked it over. It was a crown shaped beanie with two pins sewn onto it. One red and circular and the other white and rectangle. He smiled and hugged her.

 

“Thank you, Mom.”

 

There was a cough from the door and they all turned to see Jellybean standing there with her hands on her hips looking annoyed.

 

“What?” Jughead asked.

 

Jellybean ran up and hugged him tightly.

 

“Oh right. Umm, there’s food ready if you’re hungry. Wait what am I saying, you three are always hungry,” Gladys said.

 

Jellybean laughed and ran out of the room.

 

When Jughead and Jellybean were satisfied, they started to pack their bags.

 

“We have to go. Archie is waiting for us,” Jughead said.

 

“Who’s Archie?” Asked FP.

 

“My friend. He helped us escape.”

 

“Well, would you look at that? My introverted son made a friend,” FP joked and Jughead scoffed.

 

“Yeah well, I didn’t have that long of an education now did I?”

 

“Well, you were smarter than all the kids in your class.”

 

“Yeah, I was a smart 10-year-old. I have the intelligence of a smart 10-year-old,” Jughead said.

 

The goodbye was teary (mostly Jellybean).

 

Jughead and Jellybean walked through the dark streets of Riverdale towards the town hall.

 

They found Archie and some other kids.

 

“Umm, Archie. Who are these people?” Jughead asked.

 

“Hmm? Oh, this is Veronica, Toni, Sweet Pea, Fangs and Cheryl. Um, this is Jughead and his little sister Jellybean. The ones I was telling you about,” Archie said. “Oh, and don’t worry about not having enough provisions for everyone, they have their own stuff. And a car and a van.”

 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Jughead. I’m Toni and that’s my girlfriend Cheryl,” The pink haired girl said gesturing to the red-haired girl. She extended her hand for Jughead to shake but he just looked at it.

 

“You shake it,” Toni said.

 

“I know,” Jughead said. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”

 

“Bro, you have gloves on,” called one of the boys.

 

“Yeah. What are you? A Red?” the taller boy commented. He and the other boy laughed.

 

“Yeah, actually I am,” Jughead said. The two boys lost their smiles.

 

“You’re kidding right?” the taller boy said.

 

“No, Sweet Pea I don’t think he is,” said the smaller boy that Jughead assumed was now Fangs having everyone else had a name (He guessed Veronica’s because the two other girl’s name were taken).

 

“Well, um, it’s not every day you meet a Red,” Veronica said.

 

_Well, now they're all scared of me._

 

“It’s not like I’m gonna burn you all to crips,” Jughead said.

 

“Ha, he thought we were scared of him. Well, they are but I’m not,” Cheryl said.

 

Jellybean rolled her eyes and Cheryl caught her.

 

“Have something to say?” she said.

 

“Um, Jellybean doesn’t speak. For some reason,” Jughead said.

 

“Oh,” Cheryl said. “Well, I hope you find your voice one day.”

 

“Yeah. Well, we should get going,” Toni said. “We need to get to the East River but we have no idea where it is.”

 

“Wait, what’s the East River?”

  


* * *

 

Betty was sitting in the mess hall when the white noise went off. She screamed and collapsed to the fall hitting her head in the process.

 

She woke up in the infirmary in a bed. A nurse was sitting in a chair near the bed. She had a clipboard and was reading it with tougher concentration. She looked up.

 

“Oh good you’re up,” she said in a lively voice. Betty was mildly confused that someone could be so happy in a place like this.

 

“It’s Elizabeth right or do you have a nickname? Anyway, I’m Cate and I will be examining you today,” she said with a smile.

 

“Now, I’m going to ask you some questions. They are yes or no questions. Is that okay?”

 

“I- umm, yeah I guess,” Betty said.

 

“Oh good, good. Now, Elizabeth -”

 

“Betty. I like to be called Betty,”

 

“Oh, right. Well, Betty,” she said with a smile. “Have you ever had a reaction like that to the white noise?”

 

“No,”

 

“Well, do you know how you can hear it but none of the PSFs can hear it?”

 

“No,”

 

“Well, it’s quite simple actually,” Cate said putting the clipboard on the table. “It’s lots of different frequency that you kids can hear. We’re not sure but, different psi can hear different frequencies.” Cate’s smile slipped.

 

“What? What’s wrong?” Betty asked.

 

“Well, they were testing this one frequency that only Reds and Oranges can hear because, in another camp, there was a Red hiding out with Yellows and broke out all the kids and killed some PSFs. They are scared that there could be one in this camp too and maybe an Orange. You and one other boy reacted the wrong way to the white noise. We need to get you two out before they put two and two together,” Cate said with a more serious look on her face.

 

“We? Who’s we?”

 

“The Children’s League,” Cate whispered in her ear.  

 

“Take these before you go to bed. I will take it from there. Okay?” Cate asked giving her a picture.

 

It was a picture of the President's son. The only person to be cured. Behind the photo, there were two pills. Betty bit her lip and slid it into the pocket of her uniform.

 

_At least I’m getting out of here._

 

At bedtime, Betty took the pills and immediately lost control of her body and went into a seizure.

 

She woke up in the front seat of an environment that was very foreign to her.

 

A Car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I made Gladys and FP good parents.
> 
> Please comment or leave Kudos if you liked it!


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty and Jughead meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. I'm in the middle of yearly exams and might need more than a couple of days to write

“Oh good your up,” came a voice. It was the nurse that gave her the pills. Betty stared at her.

 

“You know, I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Cate Conners. I’m a Children’s League agent.”

 

Betty gave her a blank look.

 

“Oh, yeah. You don’t know what it is. Well, the Children’s League is a league of people dedicated to protecting you, children. We have kids back at the HQ. that we use to run operations. You, my dear, are Orange. You and the other boy in this car might be the only two Oranges left in America,” Cate said. Betty looked into the back seat. There was a boy that looked the same age as her lying in the back seat. 

 

“Oh, that’s Martin,” Cate said. As if on command, Martin wakes up. Betty stares at him. 

 

“Oh, umm, Martin, this is Betty,” Cate said. “She is also Orange.”   
  


Martin looked at Betty. 

 

“How did you confuse them?” he asked.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I said, how did you make them think you were Green?”

 

“I don’t know. I was in the doctors head one minute and the next he said I was Green,” Betty said.

 

“Ha, that’s weak. I made the doctor put me in Green,” Martin said. “And if anyone suspected me otherwise, I made them think they were stupid.”

 

Betty scowled and turned away. She really didn’t like Martin. She started to feel a tingling sensation in her head.

 

“Stop it!” she yelled. 

 

Martin laughed. “You really don’t know how to control it don’t you?” he asked. 

 

“I’m sorry to do this to you Betty, but you need to get into the back now. We are arriving a town,” Cate said.

 

“Wait, where were we?” Betty asked.

 

“In Downtown Brooklyn. It was an old factory they kept you in. No one really lives there any more,” Cate said.

 

“So, where are we now?” Betty asked as she climbed over the seat.

 

“Greendale. It’s a small town in the middle of nowhere. It neighbours Riverdale. You might have heard of it before.”

 

Martin smiled at Betty when she sat down in front of him. Betty didn’t try to hide her disgust. 

 

They pulled up to a service station. When they stopped and Cate got out of the car, Betty flung the door open and got out the car. Standing with Cate, was a man.

 

“Oh, Rob, this is Betty. She is one of the Oranges I saved,” Cate said. “What happened to yours?”

 

“I, um, I couldn’t get them out,” Rob said. 

 

“Oh,” Cate said looking concerned. 

 

Martin was out the car and standing next to Betty. Betty took a big step away from him. 

 

“Oh kids,” Rob said. “The bathroom is still working so you can go change into these clothes,” Rob said pulling two bags out of the car. He also had two necklaces like things with something hanging off of it. “These are panic buttons. They will call the League if you push them and will send them your location.”

 

Rob gave the one bag and one panic button to each of Betty and Martin. When Betty went to take her’s from Rob’s hand, she accidentally touched him and she was in his head. 

 

She saw the two kids he was meant to bring with bags over their heads. Rob took the bag off of one kid and shot her in the head. He shot the other kid in the head too. Then he threw their bodies into a dumpster.

 

Betty pulled out of his head, not wanting to see anymore. Martin called first in the bathroom. 

 

Betty was standing waiting for him when she heard something. It sounded like something moving through all the packets of food on the floor. It was coming from the other side of the counter. She looked over and saw a girl with dark brown hair and rubber gloves on her hands. The girl looked up and her big blue eyes looked at Betty in horror. The little girl stood up still staring at Betty like she had just murdered her family. 

 

“Hey, are you okay?” Betty asked the girl. The girl threw a bag of open chips in Betty’s face and ran from the building.

 

“Hey, wait! I just want to talk to you!” yelled Betty running after the girl. 

 

Betty pulled the panic button from her neck and ran as fast as she could after the girl. 

 

“Please wait! I don’t want to hurt you!”

 

The little girl ran faster through the forest until they were in a clearing with a car and a van in it. 

 

Rob, Cate and Martin were calling Betty’s name. The little girl climbed into the van. 

 

“Please take me with you!” Betty said. 

 

The little girl shook her head. Suddenly, kids came running up of the forest. 

 

“Jellybean, are you all right?” called a redhaired girl. “Oh, who are you?”

 

The redhaired girl looked Betty up and down. 

 

“Come on Cheryl,” said a boy with black hair, a leather jacket with something on the back and a weirdly shaped beanie on. He stopped when he saw Betty. He looked at her like she had just insulted him.

 

_ Something about him looks familiar,  _ Betty thought.

 

“I’m sorry, we don’t accept strays. Especially if they have been abducted by Skip Tracers,” the black-haired boy said. 

 

“Jug, that’s mean,” a girl with pink hair said. “Don’t worry about him. Get in the van and come with us.”

 

“Yeah and I’d come with us,” the black-haired boy said. 

 

Betty climbed into the van with the with the black haired boy.

 

“Jughead, who’s this?” asked a girl with black hair. She was sitting next to a boy with red hair.

 

“This is I don’t even know what her name is but she is being hunted by skip tracers so let's go,” the black haired boy called ‘Jughead’ said. The boy jumped into the driver’s seat and told Betty to sit next to him and help him with the map. They started driving on the highway going who knows what direction.

 

“So,” Betty said trying to make conversation.

 

“So what Green?” The black haired boy that she is pretty sure is named ‘Jughead’ snaped.

 

“Jughead that is no way to talk to women!” the black haired girl said.

 

“What? That’s what she is.”

 

“I was just going to ask what everyone’s names are,” Betty said.

 

“Oh, right,” said the red-haired boy. “I’m Archie, this is Veronica.”

 

Veronica smiled at Betty.

 

“That’s Jellybean,” Archie said pointing to the little girl who doesn’t speak.

 

“And I think you have worked out Jughead’s name.”

 

Jughead scoffed.

 

“That’s not your real name right?” Betty asked.

 

“No,” Jughead responded. “The real name is worse.”

 

Betty smiled.

 

“Your is Betty or something like that, right?” Archie asked.

 

Betty nodded.

 

Jellybean was standing up. 

 

“Jellybean, sit down,” Jughead said.

 

Jellybean pointed in front of them.

 

There was a car with someone hanging out the window with a gun.

 

“Everyone, get down!” Jughead yelled just as the gun went off and sent a bullet through the window. 

 

“Is everyone okay?” Archie asked. 

 

“Think so,” Veronica said dusting the glass off her lap. 

 

“We need to get in front of them,” Jughead said. 

 

“Let me do it,” Archie said pushing Jughead off the seat.

 

“Fine then,” Jughead muttered getting up and going into the back.

 

Archie managed to get them in front of the car.

 

“Can you drive?” Archie asked Betty.

 

“What? No! I just came from a camp!” Betty exclaimed.

 

“Don’t worry, it’s like riding a bike,” Jughead said patting Betty on the shoulder.

 

Betty had no clue what they were doing but Jughead had opened the back doors of the van.

 

Betty tried to see what they were doing but almost veered off the road.

 

“Hey Princess!” yelled Jughead. “Keep your God damned eyes on the road!”

 

Jughead slowly took off his gloves and looked at Archie who nodded. Jughead felt the fire rushing through his veins and accumulate in his hands. He made a bad of fire and thew it at the car trying to hit it and missed. The car almost veered off the road.

 

Veronica sniggered.

 

“What? It was worth the try,” he said.

 

“And worth the risk of the League finding out what you are? Worth the risk of Blondie who might be with the League finding out? You don’t want people to be afraid of you do you?” Veronica asked.

 

“Emotional manipulation is not the way Veronica,” Jughead said.

 

“Says you!”

 

“Just through a tree at them!” Jughead yelled.

 

Veronica saw a tree, uprooted it and threw it at the car. That stopped the car.

 

“Proof that you are headstrong,” Archie said going in to kiss Veronica.

 

“Eww,” Jughead moned. “I wish you two weren’t so touchy all the time.”

“Jughead, just because you don’t have a girlfriend or boyfriend doesn't mean you have to contradict everyone’s relationships,” Archie said.

 

“I never said I wanted a one,” Jughead said.

 

Jellybean giggled.

 

Jughead walked over to Betty who was sitting in the driver's seat awkwardly.

 

“Okay Princess, I can take it from here,” Jughead said.

 

Betty stood up. She hit Jughead’s shoulder.

 

“Um, ow.”

 

“That was not like riding a bike you asshole,” she yelled.

 

Jughead laughed.

 

“Damn, well I can’t call you ‘Princess’ any more then. Didn’t think you would have such an advanced vocabulary.”

 

“Well then, your just going to have to call me my name,” Betty said.

 

“Na. I’m gonna call you Green. Because that’s what you are,” Jughead said looking very pleased with himself.

 

They had been driving for a long time and the sun had started to set. Archie and Jughead had switched so now Archie was driving and Jughead was doing something on a laptop he had somehow acquired. 

 

“Fangs says that they are back in Riverdale outside some motel in the Southside,” Jughead said not looking up from his laptop. 

 

“So you’re telling me, we’ve been driving around aimlessly for the last three hours?” Archie asked.

 

“Yeah, pretty much.”

 

“And we are going back to where we stared,” Veronica said.

 

“Hey, this isn’t my fault,” Jughead said. 

 

When they finally got back to Riverdale and found the motel, it was dark.

 

Toni was waiting outside for them. She beckoned them to come inside. She looked at Betty then at Jughead.

 

“So you let Blondie come?” she asked amused.

 

Jughead rolled his eyes. “Well, you didn’t really give me a choice.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

They walked inside the room and were hit with warmth. 

 

“Glad for you to join the party,” Fangs said slapping Jughead on the back. Jughead stamped on his foot.

 

“Oops. Didn’t see your foot,” Jughead said sarcastically.

 

“Remind me to never slap you again,” Fangs said.

 

“Who’s the Blondie?” Sea Pea asked. Betty was standing awkwardly at the door.

 

“Everyone, Betty. Betty, everyone,” Jughead said, pulling Betty into the room.

 

“Umm, hi?” Betty said.

 

“Yeah, let's skip the pleasantries and find something to eat,” Jughead said grimacing at Betty’s awkwardness.

 

“Do you ever not think about food?” Cheryl asked.

 

“Pff, no.”

 

“That was a rhetorical question.”


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suspicion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exams suck.

After they ate some of what small amount of food they have (with Jughead complaining about how much he hates rationing), they worked out who was sleeping where and with who. Jellybean, of course, would not leave Jughead’s side. The sleeping arrangements ended up with Cheryl and Toni sharing the single bed, Veronica and Archie on the couch, Fangs and Sweet Pea on the floor with all the blankets from the vehicles and much to Cheryl’s dismay, Jughead, Jellybean and Betty sharing the kingsize matres.

 

Jughead took off his serpent jacket and carefully put it on a chair when Jellybean thew it on the floor with a huff.

 

“What’s your problem?” Jughead asked picking it up off the floor.

 

Jellybean rolled her eyes and pointed at the jacket.

 

“Okay, I know it’s the reason that our family sucks, but it’s warm and that’s all that counts,” Jughead said.

 

Jellybean rolled her eyes as if to say ‘whatever’ and walked into the bathroom. Betty had just walked into the room and saw that Jughead was glaring at the jacket.

 

“What did that jacket ever do to you?” Betty asked trying to make conversation.

 

“It destroyed my life,” Jughead said. “Well, more my father’s.”

 

“How could a jacket destroy someone’s life?”

 

“If it’s a gang jacket.”

 

Betty had no clue what to say. She looked at the jacket which had a two head snake on it and read ‘Southside Serpents’.

 

“What are the ‘Southside Serpents’?” Betty asked.

 

“A gang that fell in the economic crash of America,” Jughead said. He pulled his hat off and ran his gloved fingers through his black hair.

 

_Is he not going to take his gloves off?_

 

Betty looked at him confused.

 

“What? My hands get cold easily,” Jughead said.

 

Betty was still confused.

 

“But it’s hot in here,” she said.

 

“Don’t judge my hands.”

 

Betty smiled. Jellybean walked out of the bathroom and looked at Betty and Jughead with a sceptical expression then hugged Jughead and squinted her eyes at Betty.

 

“I think you should take the bathroom. Don’t you dare use all the hot water,” Jughead said. “Wait, the water is gas heated so you should be fine. And we're not paying for anything so…”

 

Betty stood under the warm water for a long time. Longer than what she thought. She was so used to the water only just warming up when the timer of the showers at the Camp she was at. She let the water run over her and wash away any bit of grime. She almost felt like the water could wash away her power. She really did wish it could. She hated it when Jughead dragged her over to everyone. She hated that he touched her. She felt like she was going to slip into her head at any time. She also thought that for being out in the cold, Jughead’s gloves were very warm. She felt like heat from them was unnatural. But he can’t be a Red. All the Reds were killed.

 

When Betty finally turned off the water and put on the clothes the League gave her and went outside, Jughead was waiting for her at the door. She didn’t see him but was alerted of his presence when he made a remark about how long she had been.

 

Jughead was so happy to be finally, well and truly alone. When he touched Betty’s arm to pull her towards everyone firstly, his hands heated up like they were going to burst into flames even though they have not oxygen and two, Betty was trying to get out of his grip like she knew he was a Red. Then again, why would the League want her if she was just a Green? She had seen him on the bus on the way to the first camp. She had seen him make fire. She was scared of him. Jughead was brought back to reality by the water scolding his skin. His hands immediately burst into flames and the flames were muffled by the water. He hated losing control. For his powers to jump out at him like he didn’t even know what to do with them. He knew how to control them. It was Betty who was making it hard for him to control them. Her and her big green eyes that radiated innocence. It was annoying. And he hated how he acted so silly around her. Like that was going to impress her. Jughead silenced his internal monologue and turned the water off and put his gloves and clothes back on. He dried his hair as much as possible then realised how long it was getting. He flicked his bangs out of his eyes and walked out of the bathroom.

 

“Well you can talk,” Betty said when he walked out.

 

“I was having a fight with myself and the water won,” Jughead responded.

 

_How ironic? Is the Red getting burnt by harmless water? God, you're weak. She’s never going to like you back._

 

Betty laughed.

 

“Well, I hope you’re okay,” she said.

 

_Goddamit her eyes are so pretty._

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jughead said.

 

He climbed into the bed with a book he’d pulled out of his bag. Betty saw the cover.

 

“ _n Cold Blood,_ ” Betty said.  

 

“Yeah, what about it? Have you read it?” Jughead asked. Betty could see he was getting excited just by looking at his eyes.

 

“I just came from a camp remember?” she asked.

 

“Oh, right,” Jughead said looking a bit deflated.

 

Betty felt bad.

 

“I’ll read it after you?” she said. Jughead smiled.

 

“Sure. But I’d never pick you for true crime but sure.”

 

Betty got into the bed next to him. She thought about trying to get into his head. She knows that she’s seen him before but needed to know where. She slowly moved her hand towards him, not realising he was watching her.

 

“Um, what are you doing?” he asked. Betty pulled her hand away.

 

“N-nothing,” she stammered.

 

“Sure. You know, I’m not as dumb as I may look,” Jughead said.

 

“I-I never said that.”

 

“Yeah, but you expect me not to realise that you are hiding something. I’m smart enough to realise that you’re hiding something. And to your credit, you’re smart enough to be hiding something. We go to grab you or something, you flinch and get out the way.”

 

His eyes were challenging her.

 

“Yeah, but you don’t think I haven’t realised that you have those gloves on all the time? Every time someone goes to touch your hands you jump. I saw your eyes when I first saw you. You hate me. Why?”

 

Jughead’s eyes softened and went sad.

 

“I don’t hate you.”

 

“Then why do you act like that? Hmm? Is it because of something that I don’t remember that you obviously do?”

 

“What?”

 

“I’ve seen you somewhere!”

 

Jughead looked like she had just slapped him. His hands were trembling. Nerves had taken over him.

 

“N-no. Y-you d-don’t know me,” he stuttered.

 

Betty looked at him confused.

 

“No. You have never seen me. I-I would know,” he said. His Adam's apple was bobbing up and down as he swallowed.

 

_He knows something. Or he’s hiding something._

 

“Um, we should go to sleep,” Jughead said.

 

Jellybean climbed into the bed between Betty and Jughead. Jellybean was hugging Jughead. It hit Betty.

 

“Oh, um,” she said. Jughead and Jellybean looked at her with the same inquisitive look. “This is going to sound weird but, um, are you two related?”

 

Jellybean giggled.

 

“Jellybean don’t be mean. She’s probably not observant or too nice to ask. Yes, we are brother and sister,” Jughead said, covering Jellybean’s mouth because she was still giggling. This just made her laugh harder.

 

“Oh my God, stop laughing! It’s not that funny!” Jughead said. Jellybean didn’t stop laughing. “For goodness sake Jellybean, you’re 13-years-old. I thought you’d be more mature.”

 

Jellybean huffed and tried to stop laughing.

 

“Now, we should really get to sleep.”

 

* * *

 

 

Betty didn’t want to slip into Jellybean’s dream. She didn’t even realise until she worked out where was. She was in a room with other girls in Yellow uniforms.

 

They could smell smoke coming under the door.

 

People were yelling and banging on doors.

 

The other girls in her room told them to come away from the door. The alarm came on and the doors popped open.

 

Kids flooded the halls, all of them in ether green, blue or yellow. The smoke was flooding from the Yellow boy’s room. They must have set a fire in there to get the doors to open.

 

Betty was pushed with the crowd and looked around for other Yellows.

 

When she got to the doors to outside, she was pushed into a run towards the gate. People were standing around the gate. Snow was falling slowly.

 

“Move,” a familiar nasally voice said.  Something that felt like it was burning pushed her into the crowd. A boy was trying to get the gate. He was getting pushed back by older kids. He touched them and they jumped back hissing.

 

“Why are his hands so hot?”

 

“Maybe he’s a Red?”

 

“He must have started the fire.”

 

The boy somehow managed to get the gate. He was doing something the lock. Betty thought he was picking it.

 

A gun went off.

 

People were screaming and yelling hurry up.

 

The PSFs were picking the kids off layer by layer. Betty was close enough to the boy to hear his muttering for him to concentrate.

 

It was here that Betty realised that she was in Jellybean’s dream because of the sensation that she knew this person.

 

In the panic, she was pushed onto the ground and was trampled on by other kids.

 

She tried screaming and kicking, but every time she opened her mouth, she inhaled snow.  

 

_Can you drown in snow?_

 

Someone yelled at the boy at the lock to do something.

 

There was a massive flash of light and heat coming from over Betty.

 

The screams were not only children now. There were adults screaming and yelling ‘Red’.

 

Betty hears the gate fall over.

 

A burning hand grabbed her and pulled her up.

 

She was face to face with Jughead.

A look of recognition came over his face.

 

“Jellybean?”

 

_Jellybean wakes up. Come on, it’s just a bad dream._

 

Betty woke up and heard someone crying.

 

She turned her head and saw that Jellybean was crying in her brother’s arms.

 

“Shh, I know. It was just a dream. You’re okay,” Jughead was whispering in his sister’s ear. “You’re going to be okay. Nothing can hurt you when I’m around. I’ll make sure of it.”

 

Jellybean nodded.

 

“You okay now?” he asked her.

 

Jellybean nodded.

 

“Okay. Come on and lie down,” he said.

 

Jellybean lay down and Jughead followed suit.

 

“You’re okay,” Jughead whispered like he was trying to convince himself.

 

Betty watched him.

 

Jughead looked at her his blue eyes flooding with concern.

 

Betty turned over.

 

She started to think. The PSFs yelled Red. There was a Red at the camp Jughead and Jellybean were at. She assumed that Archie was there too. She felt the heat from Jughead’s hands when he touched her in the dream. The felt like fire. Betty started to think maybe he was the Red. But all the Reds at her camp were like monsters. They acted like caged animals. They looked at other kids with these wicked smiles on their faces. They set fire to things with every chance they got. It was the same with the Oranges. They tried to control the PSFs at every chance they got. Betty didn’t want to end up like that. But she knew that she shared something with them. Otherwise, she would not be Orange.

 

Jughead was also lying in silence thinking. The way Betty returned his look. Did she know? If so, how? He thought about how weird she was acting. Trying to touch him. What is she, Orange?

 

_Wait. She very much could be. I was able to hide out as a Yellow for 6 years. Maybe she was able to do the same thing but with Greens._

 

Jughead looked at Betty again.

 

_I’ll just have to wait and see._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> If you like it please share it. 
> 
> Do that for every Fanfiction you like because it's nice. And author appreciate it


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> almost bughead I think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. First I had exams, then it was all the end-of-the-school-year hype, then it was Christmas, then it was New Year's Eve, the How to Train Your Dragon the Hidden world (or how to train your dragon 3 to any sain person) came out of the 3rd of January (Perks of being Australian) and then I went away to Lord Howe Island were there is nooooooooooooo reception. 
> 
> Yeah.
> 
> And then it's back to school in 3 weeks and 4 days.
> 
> sad.

Betty woke up at 5:30 in the morning. She saw that Jughead was missing from the room. His jacket and hat were missing. 

 

She got up and put her shoes on. 

 

She walked out of the room trying to be as silent as possible. When she got the door, she found it without the chain lock on it. She opened the door and was met with cold air. 

 

She saw Jughead crouched next to a car with a red tank.

 

As Betty walked towards him he lifted his head and grabbed the switchblade that she didn’t see lying on the floor. When he realised it was her, he put the bladed down embarrassed.

 

“I’m sorry, I- I thought you were someone else,” he said sheepishly. 

 

“It’s fine,” Betty said. 

 

Jughead bit his lip and looked uncomfortable. Betty realised why.

 

“Look, about last night-”

 

“It was my fault,” Jughead said. “I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

 

Betty smiled at him. “What are you doing?”

 

“Um, I’m transferring gas,” Jughead said. “Taking it from other cars and putting it into ours,”

 

“So you’re stealing it?”

 

“I wouldn’t say ‘stealing’ more like, um, borrowing. Except I can’t give it back.”

 

Betty laughed. She’s heard of people stealing gas from other vehicles.

 

“Anyway,” Jughead said. “Um, I don’t know.”

 

“Way to make things awkward.”

 

“Ha, I’m the king of all things awkward.”

 

Betty shook her head. The awkward silence continued. 

 

“Yeah let's just fill the damned van,” Jughead said.

 

“How do you do this without feeling guilty?” Betty asked. 

 

“Do what? Look so beautiful in the mornings or steal gas?”

 

Betty laughed and blushed a bit. She realised that he  _ was  _ good looking. The way that his jet black hair fell over his eyes made him look slightly younger than he was and the way the sun was hitting his azure blue eyes made them look like jewels. 

 

“The latter.”

 

“Goodness, you wound me Greenie. I haven’t even touched my hair with a comb,” Jughead said sarcastically. “I don’t feel guilty because the only people who can afford gas are the ones who live in luxury with people running around after them. The people who have no clue what it feels like to be truly hungry and cold. Now, only the kids of those families know what it feels like to live like the other nine-tenths of America. Cold, car-less and hungry.” 

 

Betty looked down. She was lucky growing up. What Jughead said was true. She didn’t know what it was like to be truly hungry or cold before she was taken into the camps. Jughead recognised his mistake.

 

“Hey, it’s not your fault that you were privileged. It’s probably even better than you were. It’s socially alienating to go to school with no lunch and slowly getting thinner. People start to look at you with this awful human emotion called pity. Heard of it?”

 

Betty sniggered and shook her head. 

 

“I have, actually.”

 

“I know. It was a bad joke. Anyway, you start to feel sorry for yourself. I hate feeling sorry for myself. It makes me feel selfish. And be selfish is something I’ve been accused of being over the years,” Jughead said. He smiled like he was still hurting from this.

 

“What happened? If I’m allowed to ask.”

 

“Yeah, you are allowed to ask ‘cause I brought it up. My dad, well, he was an alcoholic. Might still be one now, I don’t know. Anyway, if he wasn’t drunk, he was asleep or looking half dead on the couch or decided that it would be a good idea to come to say sorry to his son. When he was drunk though, he was different. Violent. He’d hit my mum and I’d get in the way. He’d throw me into the wall and stuff like that. When my mum wasn’t home, he’d grab me and threw me into the wall and start telling me how useless I am. How I’m selfish and shouldn’t think about myself so much. Sometimes I’d tell him I was hungry not realising he was drunk. He’d grab me and tell me that I was getting too fat and then threw me into the closet.”

 

Jughead started to grasp his arm. Betty realised what he was doing so she grabbed his hands.  _ Thank God for the gloves. _

 

“Hey, look at me. What happened isn’t your fault,” she said trying to look him in the eye. “It isn’t worth hurting yourself for it. That was your dad’s mistake. I’ve only known you for like 19 hours, but I know that you’re  _ not  _ selfish. You’re  _ selfless _ . Big difference”

 

Jughead smiled. 

 

“What is it?” Betty asked.

 

“Nothing.”

 

_ Ha, you’ve only known her for what, 19 hours and you like her?! What the hell? _

 

“Anyway, I would like it if you’d help me move the, what do you call it? The red think that the gas is in-”

 

“You mean the tank?”

 

“Sure, yeah. Can you help me move it?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Betty pulled the tank up.

 

“God help me. You’re strong.”

 

* * *

 

 

Betty was still beating herself up for touching Jughead’s hands. 

 

_ What if he didn’t have gloves on? _

 

Jughead was trying (and failing) to move the full tank over to the van. He stopped and looked at her 

 

“Gonna help or?”

 

“Oh, right.”

 

Betty grabbed the tank of gas and lifted it up.

 

“Woah,” Jughead said. “Now I just feel weak.”

 

Betty laughed and walked over to the van. Her arms were killing her.

 

_ Suppose it’s punishment for touching his hand. _

 

Just as they started filling up the van, two people, a man and a woman, walked out of the room three doors down from theirs.

 

“Skip Tracers,” Jughead whispered to Betty. “When I tell you to run, run.”

 

Betty watched as Jughead tried to discreetly take off his gloves. At that same moment, Betty felt the hands in her head reaching out towards the Skip Tracers. She felt them grab their heads.  _ Go away and leave us alone. _

 

The woman grabbed the man and said for them to go. They go into the car and drove off.

 

“Well that was weird,” Jughead said, watching the car drive off with a sceptical look.

 

“Yeah,” Betty said. She was still confused about how she did it. She looked at Jughead just as a colour disappeared from his eyes. Betty remembered that when every child uses their powers or attempt to use their powers, their eyes glow the colour they are. The colour that Jughead’s eyes glowed were not green. They could have been red but there are no reds left. They could have been orange or yellow too though. 

 

“You okay?” He asked her. He looked worried. Almost as if he saw the colour her eyes turned.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

* * *

 

 

They went back inside and helped cleaned up the room so the motel staff wouldn’t have a shock and know that there had been squatters in one of their room and then they hit the road. Betty felt awkward sitting in the car with people she didn’t really know. She tried to make small talk with the one person that was closeted to her.

 

“Hey, Archie, what's everyone’s colours?” 

 

Archie looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

 

“Um, well, I’m Yellow and so is Jellybean, um, Veronica’s Blue the same with Sweet Pea, Fangs and Toni, um, Cheryl is Green and Jughead is um,” Archie hesitated. This raised Betty’s suspicions about if Jughead was something that wasn’t common. “Green. Yeah, he’s a Green.”

 

“Goddammit Archie,” came Jughead’s voice from the back of the car. He stood up and basically draped himself over the back of Archie’s seat. “You forgot what I am? Gees and we’re meant to be friends. And turn left here you idiot. They made maps for a reason. You’re lucky I’ve memorised this road.”

 

Betty felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around and saw that Veronica was standing over her seat.

 

“What makes you so special that the league would want you? You’re just a Green right?” She asked.

 

“I - um,” Betty started. She didn’t miss the sceptical look coming from Jughead. She could practically feel it burning through her head. “I can crack codes.”

 

“You know what the league does to kids, right? They’re not what they say they are,” Veronica said. “They’re awful. I signed up because I wanted to make a difference. Not to be focused into becoming a soldier.”

 

“Maybe you had a different experience to me,” Betty said. “Cate was so nice to me.”

 

“Here we go,” Jughead huffed. “It’s Choi 2.0” 

 

“It’s - what?” Betty asked.

 

“Cheryl and Toni also came from the league, except they came the day before I left, dragging them out with me. They were both under this impression that the league were this amazing group of ‘good people’ that would do anything to help us,” Veronica explained. “They kept saying that we should go to them until I told them what they are really like.”

 

“It was annoying,” Jughead said. “They were all like ‘oh, let’s go to this magical place called the Children’s League. They will keep us lovely and warm and well fed. They are also exceptionally nice, especially this lady called Cate’.”

 

Jellybean giggled. 

 

“Just, don’t go to the League. They’re nothing but trouble,” Veronica said.

 

“Okay,” Betty said.

 

* * *

 

That night when they found somewhere to stop so they could rest, Betty decided to go through the bag the league gave her. She found a spare pair of socks, underwear and bra. She also found something that struck fear into her heart.

 

There at the bottom of her bag was another panic button.

 

_ If these things track us  _ without  _ being activated, I’m leading the league right to us.  _

 

She contemplated getting rid of it but that would be hard in a van with four other sleeping teenagers. Betty put the panic button back into the bag and prayed that it wasn’t taking them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope and pray that I will update soon.


	6. Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh sorry for the wait. School sucks.

“Where are we going anyway?” Betty asked.

 

“The East River,” Jughead said. “Or, at least we think that. We aren’t in Virginia so we’re kinda screwed. I believe it’s a code for something. Or maybe it is in Virginia and we will die on these roads from dehydration and starvation.”

 

“And the bet you only care about one of those?” Veronica asked, smirking.

 

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Jughead responded. “Anyway, It’s like a camp thingy that kids who have escaped from the camps or had never been there in the first place. It’s rumoured to be run by an Orange.”

 

Betty felt a wave of excitement hit her full force.

 

_Another Orange? Maybe they could teach me how to control my powers._

 

“But how will it have been run by an Orange if all the Orange psi kids were killed?” Archie asked.

 

“Archie, mind control,” Veronica said. “They probably convinced the doctor who did their test that they were something like a Blue or a Green.”

 

Betty bit her lip. “B-but wouldn’t they feel too powerful to be forced into being with kids who they see as, um, below them?” she said. Jughead gave her the look he’d been giving her. “Um, I mean, the Oranges from my camp were always causing trouble, like um, they kept controlling the PSFs. The Reds were just as bad though. Setting things on fire then blaming it on the sun.”

 

Archie glanced at Jughead sideways. Jughead returned the look, biting his lip and playing with the hem of his shirt.

 

_What is that kid’s problem?_ Betty thought.

 

Jellybean tugged her arm and gave her a piece of paper that read; _I think that’s_ _~~corec~~ t _ _correct._

 

Jughead snatched the piece of paper from Betty’s hands. “Well done Jellybean you corrected yourself,” he said. “And I personally believe Betty is correct as well. Those Oranges were terrible and way too proud to make someone believe that they are not as powerful as they really are. But I still believe that some would be smart enough to work out that they will be killed eventually.”

 

“Wow Jughead so optimistic,” Veronica said sarcastically. “Everything _always_ comes back to death with you.”

 

“One day, Death will catch everyone in this room. I mean van,” Jughead said. “Away, Archie stop distracting yourself with the map and just drive already!”

 

“Anyway,” Veronica said, side-eyeing Jughead. “The only other information we got out of some Blues. They told us to find EDO. It’s some code for something but now we have a code solving Green on our hands. So Betty, what do you think?”

 

Betty started to panic. She didn’t think that they would actually use her for codes.

 

“I, um. I’ll need time,” she said. “It’s not so easy that you can hear a code and know what is it straight away.”

 

“That’s true,” Veronica said. “Well if you have any ideas, please share them.”

 

_EDO, what could that mean? I mean how would someone even be able to work that out? It could be something like a computer code._

 

Almost as if he could read her mind (which was quite disturbing for Betty) Jughead lent over and whispered to her.

 

“I’ve already worked it out. EDO stands for 5416 or 540. I don’t know which one or if it’s really what it stands for but it’s the easiest code and is definitely what a kid would come up with,” Jughead said.

 

“How did you know that? Like, how did you work that out?”

 

“Simple. ‘E’ is the fifth letter in the alphabet and ‘D’ is the fourth and then ‘O’ is the sixteenth or could just stand for ‘oh’ or zero.”

 

_Well, there goes my theory of him_ not _being Green. And now I just feel stupid._

 

“But since you are the ‘Green with special code-breaking powers’ you should tell Veronica,” he said.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Definitely. I’m supposed to have a photographic memory anyway not over average intelligence.”

 

“Can’t you have both?”

 

“Yeah but I’m only, um, classified for one. Just tell them.”

 

“What are you two whispering about?” Archie asked, looking at them in the rearview mirror.

 

“Betty came up with the answer to the code,” Jughead said.

 

“Really?” Veronica asked, turning around in her chair to look at them. “That was quick.”

 

“Well she is a Green that is classified in code-breaking,” Jughead said. “So, Betty, why don’t you tell us all _exactly_ what you told me.”

 

“I, um,” Betty said.

 

“Go on,” Jughead pushed.

 

“Um, I believe it is um.”

 

“Oh my God just say it!”

 

“580.”

 

“What?” Veronica said.

 

“Um,” Betty looked at Jughead who nodded at her.

 

“Um, well it could be 5816 but I feel it’s more 580.”

 

“What do you think it stands for?” Veronica asked. “Like, what is it used for?”

 

“I haven’t worked that out yet.”

 

“It could be a zip code,” Jughead said.

 

“Or the code to get into the place,” Veronica said.

 

“Okay, I get that this EDO thing is important, but does anyone know where we are meant to meant to meet the others?” Archie asked.

 

“Some parking lot,” Jughead said.

 

“Very specific.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

* * *

 

  


They eventually found the others. Jughead was right about them being in some parking lot. Fangs and Sweet Pea decided that it would be smart for only them and Archie to go get food because they look older than anyone else.

 

“No offence Jughead, but you look ten-years-old,” Archie said.

 

“None taken,” Jughead said, even though his face said otherwise.

 

While they were waiting, Jughead pulled out the laptop he found buried in a draw in one of the places they’d broken into once. He opened it and did what he always did.

 

Hacked onto the Skip Tracer’s web page. Almost instinctively, he searched all their names up to see if anyone had seen them and reported it to the site.

 

He went onto his file.

 

The colour now says Red.

 

The price on his head had increased by ten thousand rounding it up to almost two million.

 

Panic spread through his body.

 

The League must have told them what I am. They must have. No other adults have ever seen _me make fire._

 

_But why would the League shoot at us though?_

 

_Fuck._

 

_That wasn’t the League._

 

“We’re being followed,” he said.

 

“What?!” Veronica half screamed.

 

“Come look. Betty, go away.”

 

“Fine.”

 

Veronica comes and looks at his screen. She read his colour and price

 

“Damn.”

 

“I was thinking ‘fuck’ but damn will do just fine I guess.”

 

“There is a thirteen-year-old in this van Jughead!”

 

“She doesn’t care. She’s probably heard me mutter worse.”

 

Veronica slapped him.

 

They looked out the window and saw Archie, Sweet Pea and Fang sprinting towards them as fast as they could carrying the food they brought.

 

“What is it?” Jughead asked when Archie half dived into the van.

 

“Lady Jane.”

 

“Shit.”

 

“Jughead!”

 

“Sorry, I mean something other than that.”

 

“Who’s Lady Jane?” Betty asked.

 

“A skip tracer who wants us back in the hell camps,” Archie said.

 

“Then why ‘Lady’ Jane?”

 

“She’s British,” Jughead said. “And has an accent.”

 

“Okay stop crap talking and eat so we can leave,” Archie said.

 

“Gladly,” Jughead replied.

 

* * *

 

 

Betty wasn’t hungry.

 

She sat and picked at her food not looking up until she felt someone watching her.

 

She looked up and saw that Jughead was watching her. She looked back at him confused then she realised that he had obviously inhaled his meal and is still hungry.

 

His hand twitched and he looked down, embarrassed.

 

Betty watched as his hands twitched again.

 

_Huh. I’ve never noticed that..._

 

_Maybe that’s because you haven’t known him for that long._

 

Betty realised that she was the only one who hasn’t finished eating.

 

Jughead was still staring at her food hungrily.

 

“If you want it just take it,” She said.

 

Jughead’s hands twitched again.

 

“Why don’t you give it to someone that needs it,” he said. This time when his hands twitched, it was more of a spasm.

 

_What is his problem?_

 

“What about you?”

 

“I’m _always_ hungry.”

 

“And?”

 

“It’s true he is,” Archie chimed in. “I also think we should go. Anyone could sneak up on us and then play the white noise and bam! We are in the hands of Skip Tracers.”

 

“If only they could hear the white noise,” Jughead said.

 

Veronica did not look impressed.

 

Jellybean snorted.

 

“Yeah, let's just go.”

  


* * *

 

 

The whole trip, Betty sat next to Jughead. Now that she had noticed, Jughead’s twitches jumped out at her. She couldn’t believe that she had never noticed them before.

 

Jughead was quite sceptical of Betty suddenly studying him. Did she know? But she seemed to only be watching his hands. Be looked down at his hands only to see them spasm again. A surge of annoyance and anger when through him causing his hands to spasm again. At least his whole body didn’t spasm like some Reds. Only when he gets really mad it gets bad.

 

Betty is still watching him.

 

_God, what is her problem? Why is she looking at me? What do you do if a pretty girl is looking at you? Why won’t she stop?_

 

He felt his whole body seize up and fire escape his hands only to be put out by his tight gloves.

 

Betty looked down.

 

_Did she see? Does the van smell like smoke now? Will she know? Will she think of me differently? Well yeah, who wouldn’t? I could accidentally kill her. Should I play with my lighter to mask the smell?_

 

Jughead grabbed the cigarette lighter that was in his pocket and started playing with it, being careful not to make the fire do anything unnatural.

 

“Why are you playing with a cigarette lighter?” Betty asked.

 

“I’m a pyromaniac,” Jughead said.

 

Archie sniggered. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.”

 

“Shut up. I’ll have you know that I accidentally nearly burn down my elementary school.”

 

“Well, that’s exactly what I want to know about the stranger that I’ve been sitting in the same van with for a few days.”

 

Jughead flicked the lighter again watching the flame appear and disappear.

 

_If only my fire was so easy to control. I would be able to actually feel things without them disintegrating. Made people would actually like me and not act like I’m a ticking time bomb._

 

He looked at Betty who was watching the world go by.

 

_I won’t need to hide who I really am from her. Maybe she would like me back..._


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walmart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to take this time to thank everyone who has read this. We have hit 1100 hits. (UwU). Thanks to everyone who has left a comment (they kill me, I love you all) and kudos.
> 
> And as u have probably noticed, I neglect editing so I'm really sorry for all the spelling and grammar issues. 
> 
> I posted this in science.....
> 
> 8th-grade science is Australia is ok. I'm in the smart class so we r going really fast. And I'm ignoring my teacher .-.
> 
> anyway, I'll stop rambling.
> 
> enjoy.

Betty sat watching the world go past the window. Everywhere she looked, she could see the effects of the economic crash. Bordered up houses, cars turned over no one in the streets. It looked like a ghost town.

  


Betty looked over at Jughead who was asleep against the window with Jellybean asleep with her head on his lap. Betty suddenly felt jealous of them. By pure luck, they found each other again. She could never see Polly again. She looked over at Jughead again. She felt like she was taking advantage of him sleeping just so she could admire him. Honestly, he’s gorgeous. His raven black hair, although dirty from the lack of showers they could have, shone in the sun every time it hit it, turning it a gold colour. His face looked peaceful and just seeing him being able to sleep made Betty happy. 

  


“Psst Bee,” Veronica whispered, “If you like it why don’t you just take a picture?”

  


Archie muffled his laugh with his hand.

  


“Shut up Archie you’re meant to be driving,” Betty protested.

  


“He’s hot, isn’t he?” Veronica teased.

  


“Yeah, I suppose.”

  


“You like him?”

  


“Who?” Jughead said waking up. He rubbed his eyes with his gloved hands then propped his head up with his arm and looked at the two girls tiredly.

  


“Betty’s long lost crush. She was describing him to me,” Veronica said, winking at Betty.

  


Betty gave Veronica a thankful look.

  


“Eww, I interrupted girl talk,” Jughead said making a face. “I’ll leave you two to it. I’m still tired anyway. I might just fall asleep again.”

  


Betty watched him put his head in the same spot it was resting before and pulled his leather jacket around him to keep him warm. They all kind sat in silents for a while. Betty watched as Jughead’s eyelids fell over his stormy blue eyes as he fell asleep again. 

  


After a while, Jellybean, who had woken up due to the conversation and Jughead moving around, prodded Jughead to check if he was really asleep. He just groaned and pulled his legs up on the seat, trying to get more comfortable. Jellybean faced Betty and gave her a thumbs up and a face that said:  _ he’s asleep go on with our conversation. _

  


“Maybe.”

  


“Swoon!”

  


“Eww. Why him?” Archie said.

  


“Shut up Archie!” Veronica yelled.

  


“Shhh!” Jellybean said with her finger on her lips and pointing to Jughead, who seemed relatively undisturbed by all the yelling.

  


“Don’t worry Jellybean, we could crash and he’d still be asleep,” Archie said.

  


“God, please tell me that’s not true,” Betty said.

  


“No, it’s not. I was overexaggerating.”

  


“You guys are so loud,” Jughead moned, not opening his eyes. 

  


Archie laughed. “Where nearly there bro.”

  


“Agh, I want to sleep!” Jughead protested cracking open his eyes. 

  


“You on you’re period Jughead?” Veronica asked.

  


“What?! No! I’m not a girl!” 

  


“I’m joking. I only said that because you're really moody all of a sudden.”

  


“And you wouldn’t be when someone wakes you up from your nap?”

  


They pulled up at a Walmart that was closed down and had bordered up windows.

  


“I suddenly miss the internet,” Jughead said

  


“Why? Not that I don’t disagree” Betty said.

  


“Rember Walmart Kid?”

  


“How did I know that you would be that ten-year-old that always watched vines?”

  


“Because I was obviously so cool,” Jughead said flicking bangs.

  


“Yeah in your dreams,” Veronica said.

  


“Love you too Vee,” Jughead said.

  


“Okay ladies, once you have finished your mother’s meeting I suggest we actually get in there before we get caught,” Cheryl said walking over to their little group.

  


“Oh look what the wind blew in,” Jughead said with fake enthusiasm. 

  


“Shut up you hobo,” Cheryl said. “Anyway, this is where my brother Jason and I used to hide. Then when we left, well, umm, he, he died. They shot him.”

  


Toni put her arm around Cheryl's shoulder and rubbed her arm.

  


“Swoon,” Fands said.

  


“Anyway,” Toni said. “Anyone volunteer to go check it out while everyone else stays out here?”

  


“I volunteer as tribute,” Jughead said, doing the whole Hunger games three fingers in the air thing.

  


“Why?” Sweet Pea asked.

  


“Goodness I’m so popular,” Jughead said sarcastically, bringing down his hand. “I’ll only go if Betty comes with me.”

  


“What? Me?” Betty asked.

  


Veronica looked existed. 

  


“Is there another Betty here that I wasn’t aware of?”

  


“Okay we don’t need your sarcasm,” Betty said. 

  


“Just do quick surveillance and then come straight back. Okay?” Archie said

  


“Yes mum,” Jughead said.

  


Archie rolled his eyes.

  


“He’s showing off,” Veronica whispered into Betty’s ear.

  


“Why?”

  


“Didn’t you see how jealous he got when I said you were talking about your crush?”

  


“No.”

  


“He was radiating jealousy. That’s why he went back to sleep he was jealous.”

  


“Betty, hurry up!” Jughead said from the building’s entrance.

  


“Go get him,” Veronica teased.

  


“Shut up,” Betty said.

  


She ran over to where Jughead was standing.

  


“You ready?” she asked him.

  


“Um, who was the one having a chin wag?” Jughead asked.

  


Betty laughed.

  


“Come on let's go,” Jughead said.

  


They walked into the relatively dark building slowly, checking for any signs of life as they walked past the cash registered. 

  


“I think we’re-,” Betty started but got cut off by Jughead throwing his hand over her mouth.

  


“Shh,” he said, moving the two of them behind a cash register. “Did you hear that?”

  


“Hear what?” Betty muffled from under his hand. Sudently, there was a massive crash from the back of the store. Betty clung onto Jughead, totally forgetting that she could accidentally do something to his head.

  


“What was that?” she asked.

  


“Let’s go find out,” Jughead said getting up, pulling Betty with him. Betty felt horrified. 

  


“Hello?” Jughead called into the open.

  


“Juggie let’s just go,” Betty whispered to him.

  


Jughead shook his head and pressed on.

  


“Juggie, we could die!”

  


“It might be nothing”

  


Suddenly, a deer jumped out from behind a shelf. They screamed and clung onto each other in fright. The deer seemed just as scared of them and bounded out of the building through a window that wasn’t boxed up. Betty gave a nervous laugh and then realised that she was holding onto Jughead. He gave a laugh.

  


“I think that deer wanted to eat us,” he said jokingly.

  


“Well your scream currently scared it off,” Betty said. “You sounded like a five-year-old girl.

  


“Haha. Funny,” Jughead said. “I didn’t see you as a girl that would scream.”

  


“That’s better than a sixteen-year-old boy sounding like a five-year-old girl when he is frightened.”

  


“Leave my fragile masculinity alone,” Jughead said, pretending to look hurt. 

  


Betty laughed.

  


“Stop it, Betts, you’re hurting its feelings.”

  


“I can’t,” Betty said, dying of laughter. “I’m dying.”

  


“Oh no, we can’t have that now can we?”

  


“Stop! You’re killing me.”

  


“Betty’s cause of death: laughter. Now shut up so we can go find some-”

  


He was cut off by a small rustling sound from the back of the store.

  


“Birds?” Betty asked.

  


“Let’s hope so.”

  


They walked into the store looking around for food and water. In one of the shelves, there was a wireless radio.

  


“Ha, you would think someone would have taken this,” Jughead said. “I mean, these parts must be worth a fortune.”

  


“Yeah,” Betty said in agreement, turning around to face Jughead. Then she saw it. She walked past him and crutched down next to it. It was a massive ᛘ painted in black paint with:  _ GET OUT NOW  _ painted underneath it. 

  


“Betty.”

  


Betty touched the symbol. When she brought her fingers back from it, they came back black.

  


“Juggie.”

  


“I know. It’s fresh.”

  


Betty stood up and looked at him. Suddenly, she was thrown onto him by some forces. They hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of both of them. Betty rolled off Jughead who was holding the back of his head, with his face contort in pain.

  


“Come on get up.”

  


“M-my head.”

  


“We can fix it later, let’s get out of here.”

  


She pulled him to his feet and help him run the rest of the way down the aisle until they were out. Then they were flung to the ground again, this time Betty felt the full force of the ground and Jughead body thrown onto her’s. He groaned and rolled off her and looked around.

  


“Stop we’re not Skip Tracers,” he said, trying to get up. He got thrown onto the ground again, hitting his head hard. Betty could only watch.

  


“Jug!”

  


She moved over to him shaking his body. He was unconscious. 

  


Suddenly, the lights of the store turned on as well as the TVs and some alarm. The lights started to get brighter, threatening to burst. Betty threw herself onto Jughead’s unconscious body just as the lights started to explode.

  


“Jellybean no!” yelled Archie’s voice over the crashing of the lightbulbs exploding. Everything turned off.

  


Betty looked up to see Archie holding Jellybean, whose eyes were turning back to their normal blueish colour from a bright yellow. 

  


“You should keep that Yellow under lock and key if she’s going to do that,” a voice said. Betty looked up and saw a small group of boys. One of the boys was standing in front of all the others. Betty assumed that he was the leader of the small group and was the one that spoke.

  


“Well maybe if you didn’t knockout her older brother, she wouldn’t have done that,” Archie said.

  


“He’ll be fine,” the boy said.

  


“How do you know that?” Betty asked.

  


“He didn’t hit the ground that hard.”

  


“Really?” asked Cheryl. “How come I heard the bang from over here? He’s lucky that I’m a Green and know what to do when someone gets a concussion.”

  


“Hmm charming,” the boy said. “Are you or blondie over here his girlfriend?” 

  


“Excuse me, mister, I’m gay,” Cheryl said. “It’s no wonder why you have no real friends if you go around assuming people’s sexualities.”

  


Betty looked down a Jughead’s limp form. His eyelids started to flutter open reliving his stormy blue eyes.

  


“Hi,” he slurred.  

  


“I think he hit his head too hard,” Cheryl said.

  


“What happened? Why is there a lot of light?”

  


“I think you’re a bit confused. Can you tell me where you are?”

  


“Umm,” Jughead said. “Um, In a store that had a deer in it.”

  


“Good. Can you tell me what happened before you got hit in the head?”

  


“Um, I was hit in the head before that as well. I think.”

  


“Yeah, I mean after that.”

  


“We were attacked by, um, Blues?”

  


Cheryl came over to him and moved his head to look at her. He blinked at her and then his face scrunched up in pain. 

  


“Oww, Cheryl that hurt,” Jughead complained.

  


“Shut up while I assess you,” she said. “Yeah, he has a concussion. Betty, don’t let him move his head too much and you, head Blue person.”

  


“I’m Reggie.”

  


“And I don’t care,” Cheryl snapped. “Get me some ice. You must have an ice pack somewhere.”

  


“Um, we have one of the ones that you have to smash,” one of the Blues said.

  


“That will do,” Cheryl said. The boys didn’t move. “The ice pack won’t get its self now go!”

  


The boys immediately went to get it.

  


“You idiots! Not all of you need to get it just one of you!” Cheryl yelled at them.

  


“Cheryl you’re hurting my ears,” Jughead slurred.

  


“I really don’t care. I’m only helping you because I’m the only one who can,” Cheryl said.

  


Jughead smiled at her.

  


“Don’t give me that look.”

  


“Cheryl, he’s smiling at you,” Archie said. He was trying to stop Jellybean from running over to them and latch onto her brother.

  


Betty took Jughead’s beanie off of his head (slightly surprised that it stayed on in all the commotion) and touched the back of his head to check if it was bleeding or not. When she touched it, Jughead whimpered so she brought her hand back.  _ At least it’s not bleeding _ .

  


“I don’t get it. Why are you helping me? You’ve both made it very clear that you don’t like me,” Jughead whined.

  


“Stop whining,” Cheryl snapped. 

  


A Blue boy came over with the ice pack.

  


“Have you activated it?” Cheryl asked.

  


The boy shook his head.

  


Cheryl sighed.

  


“At least you brought the ice pack,” she said. Then she started smacking it on the ice pack on the ground. When the ice pack was activated, Cheryl gave it to Betty.

  


“Put it on the spot where he hit it,” she said. “And hold onto him when he gets up.”

  


“Wait. I, um, I have to move?”

  


“Yeah,” Betty said. “Come on Jug, you have to help me.”

  


Jughead pulled himself up with help from Betty. He swayed a bit, trying to find his balance. 

  


“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Betty said. Jughead noded and leaded into her.

  


“You,” Cheryl said pointing at Reggie. 

  


“Who, me?” he asked.

  


“What do you think? I want you to make a place where my patient can lie down,” Cheryl said.

  


“You,” she said pointing to a random boy in the group. “Try to find some aspirin.”

  


“Okay, I get that you like being in control,” Reggie said. “I mean, I like girls with strong character, but you can’t go around ordering  _ my  _ group.”

  


“Well, they are listening, so,” Cheryl said, walking up to Reggie. “Get used to it.” She flicked her hair in his face and walked straight past him. Reggie rolled his eyes and followed her.

  


Archie let go of Jellybean who pulled Jughead into a hug.

  


“I’m fine Jellybean,” he said.

  


Jellybean shook her head and pulled his arm around her shoulder in an attempted to help him walk, even though she was at least a foot shorter than him. 

  


“Thanks, JB.”

  


Jellybean smiled at him and started to walk and Betty followed suit.

  


_ ~ _

  


It had been an hour since the debacle. 

  


In the end, they all settled on that they all needed protection and that there were enough resources to go around so now they were all sitting around a small campfire. (Well, everyone was sitting except for Jughead who was lying down because he still felt slightly dizzy [but the aspirin that one of the boys found was defiantly helping with his headache.])

  


“So,” Reggie said, trying to make conversation. “Where are you headed?”

  


“East River,” Archie said.

  


“Ha,” said one of the boys that was apparently named ‘Moose’. “We just came from there.”

  


Reggie sent him a look.

  


“What? They already know about it,” Moose said.

  


“Wait,” Jughead said, trying to sit up. (He failed due to the fact that his sight started to fill with black dots.) “You came from the East River?”

  


“Yeah,” Reggie said.

  


“W-w-where is it?” Jughead asked.

  


“Lie down,” Betty said.   
  


“EDO,” Reggie said.

  


“We already know that,” Fangs said. “The best we have is 540 or 5416.”

  


“Wow,” Moose said. “How many of you are Greens.”

  


“Two,” Cheryl said. She looked at Jughead who was glaring at her. “I mean three. Forgot that Betty was a Green.”

  


“Betty, hey?” Reggie asked. “What is that short for?”

  


“None of your business,” Betty said.

  


Reggie started to get too close for comfort and then placed his hand on Betty’s thy. Betty heard Jughead inhale deeply. She turned to look at him to see if he was okay but only saw his hands shaking out of control.

  


He was mad.

  


“M-maybe you girls should have some girl time,” he blurted out all of a sudden. “I know that Jellybean is dying to have some time away from Archie and I.”

  


Jellybean gave Jughead a questioning look, then mouthed and ‘oh’ and started nodding frantically at Betty. She got up and started to pull Betty and Veronica up from their spots.

  


“Yeah, maybe you should go find us all some new clothes,” Jughead continued. “And take Cheryl and Toni with you. I know they have a really good fashion sense.”

  


“Gees Jug, way to make it discreet that you don’t trust these guys around us,” Toni said. “Come on Cher, we can go have some alone time.”

  


“Use protection,” Sweet Pea said as the two girls got up. Cheryl smacked his head. 

  


“Be careful Sweets, or you will be joining Jughead with a concussion,” she said. 

  


Jellybean looked confused and gave Betty a questioning look.

  


“When you’re older,” Veronica said patting her on the back.

  


“No,” Jughead said from where he was lying down. “Never. She shall never know.”

  


“Protective much,” Betty said.

  


“It’s what you get for being important to him,” Veronica said winking.

  


“Oh my God,” Betty said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks.
> 
> chapter 8 is halfway written


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Radio/ Bughead bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun.
> 
> It's kind of short.

Betty, Veronica and Jellybean walked over to where the clothing section of the store were.

 

“Okay,” Veronica said. “We can take anything we want and the best part is, we don’t have to pay!”

 

“What about water damage?”

 

“This place looks pretty well sealed up for something that has been closed down for a while,” Veronica said. “Okay, so, Jughead said to get clothes for everyone. I think we just grab something random for all the boys that they might actually like and we get full outfit changes.”

 

“I second that,” came Cheryl’s voice. Betty, Veronica and Jellybean all turned to where the voice came from. Cheryl and Toni were walking towards them. 

 

“How was it?” Veronica asked.

 

“We didn’t do anything if that’s what you’re asking,” Toni said, holding Cheryl back because she looked like she wanted to kill Veronica. Jellybean walked off feeling a bit uncomfortable.

 

“Okay, so clothes,” Betty said. 

 

“Yeah, clothes,” Toni said to Cheryl.

 

“Okay, so, what do you think the boy’s sizes are?” Veronica asked.

 

“Well, Jughead is really tall and skinny,” Betty said.

 

“Pff. You only know that because you were staring at him for hours on end,” Veronica teased.

 

Betty blushed. “That’s not true,” she said.

 

“Yes, it is,” Veronica said.

 

“Oooh, tea,” Toni said.

 

“Wait,” Cheryl asked. “Betty likes Jughead? Whiny bitch Jughead? The nerdy one who has a freaking gang jacket? That Jughead?”

 

“Cheryl, I think there is only one Jughead in the world,” Veronica said.

 

“Eww, why him?” Cheryl asked. “Describe him for me just so I can see why you like him. Be as weird or as cheesy as you want.”

 

“Umm, you sure?” Betty asked.

 

“Yes,” Cheryl said. “Enlighten us. What do you see in him.”

 

“Well,” Betty started. “His hair, um, it just looks so soft and, well, it curls so perfectly and-”

 

“Sorry to interrupt but have you seen him without his hat on?”

 

“They’ve shared a bed,” Veronica said. “So yes she has. Go on.”

 

“This is a bit weird,” Betty said. “Is this what girls are meant to do?”

 

“Yes,” Veronica, Toni and Cheryl said in sync.

 

“Well then. Um, his eyes, um, well, I’ve never seen eyes that can be so blue and grey at the same time. They are almost crystalline. And well, he’s just gorgeous. His face, all the freckles, his bone structure. And he’s funny. Sometimes. Most of the time he’s trying too hard. But that’s okay. Sure he’s a bit weird around me sometimes but maybe that’s because I’m giving it away.”

 

“Girl, you have a major crush on this guy,” Cheryl said, obviously unimpressed. “But we spent five minutes with him this morning and we can see that the feeling is mutual.”

 

“Okay, can we not take about my love life and go find clothes, please?” Betty begged. “I miss clothes shopping.”

 

Jellybean reappeared holding a dress out to Betty. It was a simple pink strapless dress. It was pretty but was definitely something Betty could never see herself wearing. Jellybean gave her a face that said:  _ Wear it. You’ll look good. I won’t take no for an answer. _

 

Betty took the dress and held it against herself. It looked like it could fit.

 

“Ooo, Betty,” Veronica said. “That will definitely woo someone.”

 

“Stop being mean,” Betty said. “Thank you Jellybean. When we go try on all the clothes I will put it on okay?”

 

Jellybean smiled and nodded at her, then skipped off happily. Betty turned to Veronica.

 

“Clothes?”

 

“Clothes.”

 

After a long time, the girls had picked out outfits for each other. They also picked out a new shirt and pants for the boys. Being the good friend she is, when it came to picking out clothes for Jughead, Veronica couldn’t stop laughing at Betty’s indecisiveness. 

 

When they were done, Jellybean was pulling Betty towards the creepy looking change room when she stopped to look at something. 

 

“What is it Jellybean?” Betty asked her.

 

Jellybean walked over to a shelf and took something off it. A pair of rubber gloves that looked relatively like the ones she was wearing. But they were pink. 

 

“Yes! They will go perfectly with your new outfit,” Betty said. Jellybean smiled at her and when to take off her gloves then stopped. She looked at Betty, almost asking her if she should take off her gloves.

 

“Go on,” Betty said encouragingly.

 

Jellybean ripped off the tag holding the two gloves together and then placed them on the ground. She quickly pulled off one glove replacing it with on of the pink ones. She did the same thing with her other hand. When she was done she turned around to Betty and pointed at the pink dress. Betty wished she forgot about it.

 

“Okay, I’ll put it on. Just not in the open,” she said walking behind a shelf. She put the dress on and walked out to see Jellybean. Jellybean clapped her hands, smiling and took Betty’s hand leading her over to the group. 

 

They were still sitting around the fire. Cheryl, Toni and Veronica were sitting down already, wearing the clothes that they picked out for themselves. Betty wished that she could be wearing the clothes she picked out, not this dress. 

 

Jughead was sitting up now, feeling better since the fall. He looked up when he heard the girls coming. When he saw Betty, his heart skipped a beat. He felt like he was staring too intensely so he looked down again. She looked beautiful in the dress. He looked at her again as she went to sit next to Veronica who gave her a smirk. Then he saw Reggie looking at Betty. That’s when he lost it.

 

“Oww!” Reggie yelled suddenly, pulling his hand to his chest. 

 

“What happened?” Archie asked.

 

“Nothing. I was just sitting too close to the fire,” Reggie said rubbing his hand.

 

Archie immediately looked at Jughead who looked very pleased with himself. 

 

Jughead saw the look of disapproval on Archie’s face. Archie got up and sat next to Jughead. 

 

“I’d never thought I’d see the day where Jughead Jones was jealous,” he said.

 

“How do you know my last name?”

 

“You told me once.”

 

“Oh, right.”

 

Jughead looked at Betty again. She was laughing with Veronica. Jughead felt like he’d never heard a more beautiful laugh in his life. He realised how cringy that was so he dropped it.

 

* * *

 

Later that night, Betty was woken up by someone tripping over her.

 

“Oww,” the unidentified person said. 

 

“Who’s there?” Betty asked.

 

“Shh, you’ll wake the troops up,” the now very familiar voice said.

 

“Jug?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Investigating.”

 

“Why? It’s like… Night time.”

 

“They are plotting something, I just know it,” Jughead said unzipping the tent they were sleeping in. Light flooded in and outlined Jughead’s sharp features and highlighted his blueish eyes. Then he slowly slipped outside, moving the flap back into its original place. Betty got up and followed him. 

 

When she got out, she saw Jughead walking slowly behind a shelf, almost as if he was trying not to trip over. 

 

“You clumsy?” Betty asked him as he almost tripped over an unidentified object.

 

“Yep,” he said. “They are planning to steal the cars.”

 

“And you know this how?”

 

“Listen to them!”

 

Betty did, but now they were just rambling about something else.

 

“We can stop them,” Jughead said. “We can stay up all night and make sure that they don’t do anything.”

 

“Stay up all night? You were moody after being woken up. What will you be like after an all-nighter?”

 

“I don’t know, ask Archie,” Jughead said. “Wait, don’t do that because he’s asleep. And I’ve also been thinking, this EDO thing, what if we have been thinking about it totally wrong?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“What if it’s not an area code? What if it is something to do with the fact that there is a wireless radio in here that has not been stolen or pulled apart? What if, 540 is something to do with radio waves?”

 

Betty was gobsmacked.

 

“That’s really smart,” she said.

 

“I’ve been told that I’m smarter than the average human being.”

 

“Okay, let’s test this theory. Would it be AM or FM?”

 

“Umm, FM only goes up to 108.0 MHz so.”

 

“It would be AM.”

 

“Exactly. That also eliminates 5416.”

 

“We’re getting somewhere.”

 

“Yeah, we are.”

 

They walked over to where they saw the radio when they first came into the store. 

 

Jughead turned it on.

 

_ Please work. _

 

The statistic started.

 

They looked at each other smiling

 

He started to tune it. 

 

“One more,” Jughead said. His excitement was radiating off of him.

 

The radio static stopped at 540 AM.

__

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooh cliff hanger
> 
> Don't kill me in the comments.
> 
> Chapter 9 is on the way...


	9. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about the wait. I've been writing another story. It's Jarchie and I will probably be posting it soon.

_ “If you can hear this, you are one of us. If you are one of us, you can find us. Sweetwater River, Riverdale, New York.” _

 

The message on the radio repeated. 

 

“We did it,” Jughead said. 

 

“We did!”

 

“I can’t believe it!”

 

They hugged. 

 

_ Oh God, why does she smell so nice? Why is she so perfect? What the fuck?  _ Jughead thoughts were going in circles.  _ You could kill her with a touch, you idiot. You have fricking fire powers remember? _

 

They awkwardly pulled apart. Betty could see in the faint light that Jughead had gone red. Then he suddenly looked really annoyed.

 

“Goddamnit!” he half yelled. “We were literally in Riverdale like a week ago! Argh! No! I can’t believe it!”

 

Betty laughed. 

 

“Well, let’s go back then. Where even is Riverdale? What is it?”

 

“Only my home town!” Jughead said.

 

“Are your parents still there?”

 

“Yeah, but I don’t want to endanger their lives by going to them.”

 

Betty nodded. She wished that she could go see her parents too. But they wouldn’t want to see her. 

 

“My parents won’t even know who I am,” Betty said.  _ Oh crap. I just gave myself away.  _

 

“What?”

 

“I mean, they don't want to see me,” Betty said quickly. “Not literally, obviously. They will just pretend they don’t know me.”

 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” he said. He looked at his feet then switched off the radio. “Go back to sleep. We’ll tell them in the morning. It might be better if you tell them. Just to help hide what you really are.”

 

Betty went still. “How- how do you know that for certain?”

 

“Your profile on the Skip Tracer web page,” Jughead said. If it was a few days before, Betty knew that there would have been a very smug and scrutinising expression on his face. Now he just looked like he was sharing important information to her. “It said under colour; uncertain. Needs retesting, but don’t worry, I won’t let them get you. I’d rather tell you my biggest secret then let them hurt you.”

 

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Betty said, trying to shrug off the fact that he knew that she wasn’t a Green. “Thanks.”

 

“If situations were reversed, would you do the same for me?” he asked her. Then he turned around at started walking back.

 

_ Would I? Would I let them take him if it meant that I would be free? What if he knows something? Something that would get them to take him but leave the rest of us? _

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Jughead tells Archie that he has something important to tell him. He dragged him to almost the other side of the store and sat him down.

 

“Why am I sitting while you’re standing?” Archie asked.

 

“Because you will need to sit down for this,” Jughead said. “Firstly, Reggie’s group will steal our vehicles if we stay for any longer.”

 

“I think we all called that.”

 

“Secondly, now don’t freak out, but Betty and I worked out where the East River is.”

 

“Really?” Archie yelled standing up. “That's amazing!!”

 

“I know, now sit back down.”

 

“How did you do it?”

 

“It was a radio signal. The fact that there was a working radio here got me thinking. Then I remembered all the facts on radio waves.”

 

“I mean, I knew that you were smart but this is Green smart,” Archie said.

 

“Yeah that leads me to my final point,” Jughead said. “Bettysnotagreen.”

 

“What?”

 

“Betty,” Jughead said. “She’s not a Green. The Skip Tracer web page says so.”

 

“Then what is she?”

 

“Not a Green, Blue or Yellow. We would know.”

 

“That means she could be an Orange or a Red?”

 

“Yeah. Don’t laugh at me, I’m going to tell you something personal.”

 

“Okay,” Archie said.

 

“You need to promise.”

 

“I’m not making any promise.”

 

“Why am I friends with you again?”

 

“We aren't in the Yellow camp anymore Juggie.”

 

“I know. Okay. Ihopethatbettysared,” Jughead blurted then went red. 

 

“What? Dude, you need to stop doing that.”

 

“I know. I hope that Betty’s a Red. Like, um, me.”

 

Archie sniggered.

 

“YuO sAiD yUo woUlDn’T lAugH!1!1!”

 

“I said that I wouldn’t make any promises.”

 

“Fuck you.”

 

“Fuck you too.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you too.”

 

“Platonically, right?”

 

“No shit Sherlock.”

 

Jughead laughed. 

 

“Let’s go back so they don’t think we’re dead,” he said. 

 

“Yeah, let's go. But you need to tell them about the East River,” Archie said. “Wait, where is it?”

 

“Sweetwater River, Riverdale, New York.”

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

 

“We could have stumbled upon it before.”

 

“That’s the most annoying part.”

 

The two boys walked back to the little camp they had set up. Jughead told the others that he and Betty had worked out where the East River was. Reggie laughed and said that they must be really smart Greens to have worked it out so fast. Jughead looked at Betty who looked down.  _ What are you? God if you were like me I’d love you even more. Wait, I think love is a bit too strong. Ummmmm, like? Thank God she can’t read minds.  _

 

Then Betty made eye contact. His soft green eyes almost seemed to be inviting her into his mind. He pulled his eyes away, with that he felt the fire in his veins protest. Burning him on the inside.

 

_ Well, that’s new. She might be an Orange. But can Oranges read minds or is it only manipulating minds? What even is this disease anyway? _

 

“When should we leave?” Toni asked breaking Jughead out of his trance.

 

“Now,” Reggie said. “There is no reason for you to stay here anymore.”

 

“What about provisions?” Archie asked. “We need to round some up.”

 

“You expect us to share?” Reggie said. 

 

“We rounded up most of them!” Jughead said.

 

Betty walked up to Reggie and softly touched his hand.

 

“Please Reggie?” She asked.  _ Give them to us,  _ she thought, diving deeper into his mind.

 

_ Okay. _

 

“Okay,” Reggie said a little robotically.

 

“Okay, what?” Jughead snapped.

 

_ I’ll give them to you. _

 

“I’ll give them to you.”

 

Betty pulled out, leaving the idea in his head. She looked at Jughead who looked sceptical. She tried to mirror his expression.

 

“Why?” Jughead asked. “What’s the sudden change of heart?”

 

_ Don’t make me take back my offer Greenie. _

 

“Don’t make me take back my offer Greenie,” Reggie said. 

 

Betty could see the blank look in his eyes. She kept looking at Jughead just to make sure that he didn’t catch on.

 

_ Tell your group to get us provisions. _

 

Reggie did just that. 

 

Went they were parked and on the way, Betty realised that Reggie would try come after them but he wouldn’t know which way they were going. According to Jughead, there were multiple ways to get to the river. They were going to cross over all three, just in case, Jughead’s paranoia about being followed ended up becoming a reality. 

 

* * *

 

 

A few hours went by and they were now in the middle of nowhere. Jughead was driving and Betty was sitting in the passenger seat. Everyone else was asleep, which made everything less awkward.

 

“You know, I don’t know if I’m actually driving correctly,” Jughead said out of the blue. “I never had any lessons. How do I know if I’m driving too close to the middle of the road or I’m too close to the edge of the road, you know?”

 

“Well, at least you’ve been driving longer than me.”

 

“Pff. It’s like a two-week difference.”

 

He looked into her eyes and gave her a genuine smile.

 

“Hey princess, keep your eyes on the road,” Betty said, doing her best to mock his voice.

 

“Excuse me but that’s my line. And I don’t sound like that,” Jughead said, looking ahead with a fake hurt expression. “But it’s flattering to know that you admire me so much to that you try to impersonate me.”

 

Betty laughed. She looked at him and saw that same smile on his face as before. The golden light made his eyes look like they were glowing and his hair seemed to be soaking up the sun. He looked gorgeous. Betty looked down at his hand that was resting on the armrest. She took his hand in her’s. Even with the gloves, his hands felt warm from the sun, making her feel like she was actually holding his hand. Betty smiled up at him. He was blushing a vivid red. 

 

“So Veronica was right,” she asked.

 

“I’m assuming that we are thinking the same thing,” Jughead said. “As much as it pains me to say, yes. She was probably right. What about you?”

 

“Yeah actually.”

 

“When?”

 

“I, well, um, always thought you were good looking.”

 

“Ha! My charm strikes again.”

 

“Yeah well, I did find you very annoying at first.”

 

“Happens.”

 

“It kind of hit me like a truck.”

 

“Heh, same.”

 

“Oooh tea,” came a voice from the back.

 

“Please tell me that’s not Veronica,” Jughead said.

 

“Oh it is,” Veronica said. “Spill the tea for me again, sweet love birds.”


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead struggling with being a Red for 1000 and something words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That awkward moment when you realise that an author that you read has written a Darkest Minds/ Riverdale fanfic...
> 
> anyway, enjoy!

They had pulled over again at some rundown hotel in the middle of nowhere.

 

Literally nowhere.

 

According to Jughead and him ‘photographic memory’, they were a day away from getting to the river.

 

Betty was happy to be out of that minivan. To be away from other people and their minds. Being alone meant that she had at less of a chance revealing herself. Hurting someone. Destroying their mind.

 

She was in the bathroom having just showered. She felt amazingly clean now since she hasn’t showered in a week. None of them had (the boys smell particularly bad). There was a knock on the bathroom door.

 

Betty grabbed the towel and pulled it around herself.

 

“Just a minute,” she said, making sure that every part of her was covered. She opened the door revealing Jughead who looked very flustered. When he saw her, his jaw dropped a little bit. He blinked rapidly.

 

“Uhhhh, socks,” he said, awkwardly pulling out said item. Everyone in the room laughed. Jughead’s face went crimson. “I, um, just figured that you, um, only, um, had, uh, one pair. And, um, your feet kind of control the heat circulation in the body and-”

 

“Hey Betty!” yelled Veronica from across the room. “Put the poor kid out of his misery and just take them!”

 

Betty felt herself blushing. “Ah, thanks,” she said taking the socks from Jughead, who was still looking very awkward. After she took them they both kinda stood there for a while, staring at each other.

 

“Right,” Jughead said, turning on his heal and walking off stiffly.

 

Archie was sniggering to himself as he watched his friend walk over to him.

 

“I congratulate you immensely,” Archie said. Jughead huffed and let himself fall onto Archie’s lap.

 

“You do realise there is the rest of the chair over there,” Archie said pointing to the rest of the couch.

 

“Over here looks comfy though,” Jughead said. “I’m so awkward.”

 

“Yeah, no kidding.”

 

“She probably thinks I’m weird.”

 

“If she didn’t I’d be worried.”

 

“Gee thanks.”

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

* * *

 

 

They were driving again. Jughead didn’t feel like driving today. Ever since he and Betty confessed their feelings for each other, his hands didn’t stop spasming. It was painful. The muscles contracting and making it hard for him to do the simplest things. The fire in him begging to be let out. He could feel it in his veins. It was more present than ever. The only thing stopping it from leaving his body was the fact that every part of him except his face was covered and deprived of oxygen. Of course, he would have to take off his gloves to shower. When the water hits his body it evaporates until he cools down.

 

It was sunny this morning. The winter chill was coming, they all could feel it. Betty looked beautiful in the light. The weak, pale, early light of the morning. She always looked beautiful. If only he could reach out and touch her with his hands…

 

_Ow._

 

His hands contracted again. Long and hard. The fire was rushing inside of him. He covered his face feeling that it was heating up. His eyes must be turning red now. His whole body was burning, inside and out.

 

_Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it._

 

His head was pounding. He needed air. He needed to relax. He tried to pull himself out of the ball he put himself into. His mussels protested trying to pull him back into it. He managed to get himself close enough to the back of Archie’s set to tell him to pull over without anyone having to see his eyes.

 

“A-Archie,” he whispered.

 

“Yeah,” Archie respond, obvious to the fact that his friend was losing control.

 

“Pull over,” he whispered again.

 

“You feeling okay?” Archie asked.

 

“It’s too strong.”

 

“Oh God,” Archie muttered. “Hey, does anyone need some air?”

 

“Yep,” Veronica said. “It’s getting stuffy in here.”

 

“Ever hear of opening a window?” Betty asked. “But yeah. We should stretch our legs.”

 

Jughead couldn’t see her but he was certain that Jellybean was nodding in agreement.

 

They pulled over somewhere. Jughead pulled his arm out of the ball he was in and opened the door. He tried again to pull himself out of it and again his body protested by spasming again. He turned, rolling out of the door. When he hit the ground, he could hear Betty asking him if he was okay. He couldn’t respond. He had to get away from her. From all of them.

 

His body finally let him pull himself up and run away. He did. He could smell a lake of some sort. At least it was a water source.

 

When he got to the lake type thing, he pulled off his gloves, leather jacket and shoes and rolled up his scuffed up, dirty black skinny jeans and then stood in the shallow water. A shock of pain brought him to his hands and knees, wetting his jeans. He couldn’t care less.

 

He kneeled and looked at his hands. He could see the fluorescent red flowing in his veins. Fire started to curl at his fingertips. He smiled feeling in his element. He let the fire do it’s thing, engulfing his hands in flame. His head told him to shoot it out at the water. He did. The steam was curling up into the sky and the fire was disappearing into the water, heating it up around him. Everything smelt like smoke. It was amazing. Until he heard someone coming through the undergrowth of the forest and was coming towards him.

 

He quickly picked himself up, dried his clothes with his hands since they were still boiling hot, grabbed his shoes, jacket and gloves and sat at the edge of the lake. He put his shoes and jacket back on and put the gloves next to him. To make it seem like the burning smell was coming from something else, he took out his Zippo lighter and put it on the ground. He then stared at the dead leaves until the set themselves on fire.

 

“Jug?” Betty said coming out of the forest. There was a look of relief came over her face. Then she saw the fire. “What are you doing?”

 

_Oh shit. Now I need to come up with a story._

 

“Fire,” he said pointing at the fire.

 

“Yeah no kidding,” Betty said. “Did you just light it?”

 

“No.”

 

“Then why is it so small?”

 

_Oh. Grow you stupid fire. Act like a normal fire. Oh Goddammit, why do I need to control you?_

 

“I was, um, putting it out,” he said, glaring at the fire.

 

“Okay,” Betty said. “Well, let's go back.”

 

_I need to tell her eventually. But then she might not trust me._

 

“Betty, wait,” he said, standing on the small fire to put it out.

 

She turned around. “What?”

 

_It’s now or never._

 

“I need to tell you something,” he said. “Firstly, if we are going to be whatever we both want to be which I’m pretty sure is the same thing, there can’t be any secrets between us.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“This space,” Jughead said gesturing to the space between them. “Is a safe place. Nothing leaves here unless we both agree to tell the others. Which is why I need to tell you something.”

 

Jughead put his gloves in his pocket. His heart was beating like a drum inside his chest.

 

_She will be scared of you._

 

_So be it._

 

“I’m a Re-”

 

There was a loud bang from where they both knew the van was parked. A gunshot.

 

“Oh shit,” Jughead said. “Betty.”

 

Betty was equally as surprised. “I think you were right about us being followed,” Betty said.

 

Jughead ran towards the sound.

 

“Jug wait,” Betty called after him but he was already gone.

 

When he got to the edge of the forest, he saw Archie, Veronica and Jellybean sitting at the side of the minivan in zip ties and gagged. All his instincts told him to run and get away but his head told him to go rescue his friends and sister. He knew that he had the most deadly weapon on him. Him.

 

He ran across the parking lot of the stop towards them. They all started to shake their heads at him and frantically pointed with their tied hands for him to get out of there.

 

“I can fight,” he said to Archie as he pulled off his gage.

 

“Yeah, not Fucking Lady Jane and her White Noise machine!” Archie yelled at him.

 

“What?”

 

Jughead heard a gun take off its safety switch.

 

_Fuck._

 

“Hello Forsythe,” came a voice with a very strong Liverpool accent. “Miss me?”

 

Jughead stood up and turned around facing his nemesis. It was indeed Lady Jane, pointing a gun at his heart.

 

“Sup, Lady Jane,” he said. “I was wondering when we’d meet again.”

 

Lady Jane laughed. “Don’t be so silly boy. You are worth so much,” she said walking up to him.

 

Anger was boiling in his chest.

 

“This time, I’m not afraid to fight you,” he hissed.

 

“What about your girlfriend? Does she know what a monster you are?”

 

“How do you know about Betty?”

 

“Your lovely friends here. The White Noise can do some amazing things.”

 

_It’s now or never._

 

Jughead let his fire engulf his hands. The look on Lady Jane’s face was priceless. She looked so scared.

 

He shot a flame at her that she dodged so he tried again. Then he saw Betty. Her face. She looked so betrayed.

 

_God, if only I told her. I was going to and she knows that._

 

In that moment of hesitation, Lady Jane had turned on the White Noise. It was worse than he remembered. It felt like someone was trying to open his head with a blunt axe. It was making the fire inside of him go cold, leaving him feeling empty. The noise was terrible. His throat felt like it was burning, then he realised that he was screaming.

 

The noise stopped.

 

He felt himself hitting the ground hard. He felt blood trickling from his nose. He felt someone ruffly pulling his arms behind his back and put something cold over them. Black filled his vision.

 

The pain ceased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect any updates 4 awhile bc I have *sighs* half-yearly exams *gags*
> 
> anyhoo, thank you 4 reading as always. the comments and kudos are always much appreciated!
> 
> Just you people reading this makes my day.


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this is very neglected. 
> 
> I apologies.
> 
> I've already had 1 week and like 3 days of our 2 week and 2 day break and the best I've done is age up my sim's toddlers to kids.
> 
> I've neglected all my fanfictions.
> 
> Also, Thank you for all the suport!

Betty watched helplessly as Jughead screamed in pain and fell to the ground. She couldn’t hear the noise that was being played. That’s how the White Noise works. 

 

_ He’s a Red. _

 

That explained the gloves.

 

_ He’s a Red _

 

That explained the unnatural heat that seemed to be always radiating off him through the leather jacket.

 

_ He’s a Red. _

 

That explained the obsession with fire.

 

_ He’s a Red. _

 

That also explained the small fire.

 

_ He’s a Red. _

 

How did he cheat the system?

 

_ Red _

 

When was he going to tell her?

 

_ Highest on the spectrum. _

 

How is he so damn smart?

 

_ Most dangerous of them all. _

 

How did he keep it under wraps before the gloves?

 

_ Unpredictable moods and behaviours. _

 

He was just about to tell her.

 

_ Can blow up any flammable object with their eyes. _

 

Right?

 

_ Can control fire with their hands. _

 

How was he always so kept together?

 

_ Have fire ‘running in their veins’. _

 

He’s like her.

 

_ If your child is one of them. _

 

He’s dangerous like her.

 

_ Turn them in immediately. _

 

She should help him.

 

_ They can’t control themselves. _

 

She should make that stupid lady kill herself.

 

_ If you see one on the street, call the psi hotline. _

 

Or she should make her suffer.

 

_ Do not engage with these Children. _

 

He could have killed her…

 

Betty stopped in her tracks. 

 

He could have killed them all if he wanted to.

 

_ He’s my friend and I trust him. He didn’t want to hurt us.  _

Before he got out (well, more fell out) of the van, he looked in pain. He seemed all curled up. Before she noticed that his hands were spazzing more than she’d ever noticed. When they stopped, he’d gotten out of the van at top speed. She remembered that it started to get hot in the van.

 

_ That why he ran to the water.  _

 

She saw the look in his eye when he looked at her after she asked if he was okay. A look that she sees every time she looks at herself in the mirror

 

_ Oh my God, he’s scared of himself. _

 

Betty looked at him now. Lady Jane had him in some kind of handcuffs that covered his whole hands. He was unconscious.

 

Betty sees Jellybean’s face. She's devastated. If she was making any noise (which she refused to do) she would have been screaming through that gag. 

 

Then Betty sees Archie and Veronica’s reactions. Veronica looks disgusted at Lady Jane. Archie looks like he’d had his soul sucked out of him. 

 

Something came over Betty. 

 

She could fix this.

 

She could save herself and her friends.

 

She found herself calmly walking up to Lady Jane. 

 

The she-devil turned around to face her.

 

“I know you,” Jane said. “You’re the Cooper girl. The one worth more than Forsythe over here. And he’s a Red. You must be extra special if you are worth more than him.”

 

“I am,” Betty said calmly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see how confused Veronica was. 

 

“Really?” Lady Jane asked. “What are you then?”

 

Betty let the hands in her head release themselves. She felt them take hold of her target’s head. Lady Lane’s smile left her face.

 

She didn’t have any emotion on her face anymore.

 

“Drop your gun,” Betty commanded.

 

“I’m dropping my gun,” Lady Jane said, monotonously dropping her gun.

 

“Good. Now untie my friends.”

 

The action was done. 

 

Betty’s head was killing her. Her hold was slipping, she could feel it. 

 

It hurt.

 

“Good,” she stuttered. “N-now, w-walk into t-t-the forest f-for two h-hours. D-don’t s-stop no m-matter w-what.”

 

She swallowed. She needed to get this under control.

 

“O-once y-you have d-done t-that-”

 

Pain ripped through her skull.

 

_ No. I have to keep going. _

 

“Sit down. Don’t move even if you are t-tired, hu-hungry o-or th-thirsty. Got it?”

 

“Yes,” Lady Jane said flatly.

 

“G-good. Now g-go.”

 

Lady Jane spun on her heel and abruptly walked towards the forest where she and Jughead had just been. She only let go once she was sure that her command had taken effect. 

 

She was so tired.

 

She let herself fall to the ground.

 

~

 

Betty woke up to the sound of people fighting. It took her a while to realise where she was. She was in the back of the van. She heard someone else breathing and could sense another mind. She turned her head, painfully and saw Jughead lying next to her. Whoever was assigned to cleaning his face did a poor job of it. There was still dry blood on his face under his nose. 

 

Betty ran her hand over his face.

 

It was cold.

 

She started to panic. What if he was dead? She had started hyperventilating when he let out a small sigh. She let out one of her own. She took one of his ungloved hands and stroked the soft skin with her thumb. She thought about going into his head but she didn’t want to damage it as she did to her parents. 

 

Her parents. 

 

She needs to tell him about them.

 

She felt herself falling into his head, into some memory.

 

_ She stood in a small, dark room started to come together. In the room, there was a small desk, a bed and a nightstand with a lamp and book on it. The people in the memory materialised.  _

 

_ A woman with thick brown hair and equally as brown eyes was sitting on the bed. She looked like she was waiting for someone. She also looked upset. She was holding something to her chest. _

 

_ “Mom?” asked a small voice behind Betty. Betty turned to face a small, skinny boy with thick black hair and blue eyes.  _ Juggie,  _ Betty thought to herself.  _ Oh my God, he’s so small! 

 

_ “Mommy what’s wrong?” he asked again. “Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?” _

 

_ “No Juggie you didn’t,” Jughead’s mum said. “Are you feeling better? Your fever has gone down which is good. Why don’t you read and go to bed.” _

 

_ The tiny Jughead smiled and climbed into the bed, grabbing the book from the nightstand. Betty saw the cover and immediately recognised it as the last book in the  _ Hunger Games  _ series without having to read the title.  _ Of course, he was reading  _ Mockingjay.  _ Typical Jughead Jones. 

 

_ Betty started to realises that he was subconsciously showing her this for a reason. His mum kissed his forehead. “Happy 10th birthday Juggie,” she said. “Thank you, mummy.” _

 

He’s sick on his birthday because of the disease,  _ Betty thought.  _ This is the night he changes. Forever. 

 

_ Betty looked at the small boy, who was reading his book with interest. Betty wished that she could warn the small boy what was to come. Before she knew it, the book was on the floor and the small boy was clutching his head. Betty wanted to reach out and comfort the child. He looked like he was in so much pain. The boy went to get himself out of the bed. He put his hand on the nightstand when it exploded into flames. _

 

_ Time flashed forward. _

 

_ The boy was sitting in a hospital bed, reading. Suddenly, a man in black walked into the room. _

 

_ “What’s your name boy?” he asked. Betty saw that the boy’s nose wrinkled up at the man _

 

 _“Forsythe Jones but I_ ** _hate_** _it. I prefer Jughead. It’s better than Forsythe,” the boy said with attitude. Betty found herself sniggering at his name._ What parents name their child _Forsythe?_

 

_ “Did you set that fire?” _

 

_ “No silly. The lamp did… I think. My hands were hot. I think they were on fire. But Mom said it was because I was sick.” _

 

_ “How sick?” _

 

_ Jughead looked at the man long and hard. He squinted at him. _

 

_ “Dad said not to talk to strangers. And you're strange so, I’m not going to talk to you anymore,” he sassed. The man slowly walked up to him.  _

 

_ “What are you doing?” _

 

_ “This is for your own good.” _

 

_ The man grabbed him. _

 

_ Time flashed forward again.  _

 

_ The bus. _

 

_ Betty found herself standing next to herself at 10-years-old.  _ That’s where I’ve seen him before. On the bus. I saw him make fire before.

 

_ Betty saw him make fire again. She saw her reaction. She could feel that it pained him. She saw him getting classified as a Yellow. She saw him meeting Archie. She saw him saving Jellybean from the camp. _

 

_ It stopped moving so fast when he saw her. _

 

_ Suddenly, everything was set on fire. _

 

_ Betty felt herself burning. _

 

Betty pulled herself from his head, in pain. She clutched her head and looked down at Jughead who was still asleep. She went out to touch him but before she could she could feel the heat rising off him so she took the blankets off of him so he couldn’t set them on fire. She looked at his hands. It looked like there was fire running through his veins since they were glowing a golden red. 

 

The yelling outside the van’s door continued. She couldn’t hear the words since they were too muffled.

 

Betty slowly opened the door slightly so she could hear.

 

“We have to leave them,” she heard Cheryl’s voice say. “They are too dangerous.”

 

“But we need them!” she heard Archie’s voice. “And what would Jughead going to think if we just leave them here?”

 

_ They’re leaving us? But Jughead won’t hurt them! Only me!  _ Betty thought desperately. 

 

“He might be upset but he’ll know that it’s for the best,” Veronica’s voice. “Besides, he’ll have to walk everywhere someday.”

 

“If he heard you say that, he would jump from that van, straggle you and yell something along the lines of ‘oNlY I CaN JoKe AbOuT mY wEiGhT!!!!’,” Toni said. “Just be happy that he’s knocked out with Greenie.”

 

“You can’t call her that anymore,” Betty heard Fangs mutter. 

 

“So it’s settled?” Archie asked. “We’re leaving them?”

 

_ It’s now or never,  _ Betty thought to herself. 

 

“Wait,” she said. “Don’t leave him. Just leave me.”

 

Cheryl started to laugh. “You are quite dim aren't you?” she said to Betty. “We were talking about the cars. Well, car and disaster of a vehicle.”

 

“Hey!” Archie said. “I choose that van.”

 

“I know,” Cheryl said. “That just proves my point even more.”

 

“Betty,” Veronica said softly. “We put you and Jughead under a blanket so you would know we weren’t leaving you. We already knew that Jughead was a Red and, um, he had a suspicion that you were more than a Green.”

 

Betty felt a sense of relief filled her body but also shock.  _ He knew. He did tell me but I thought he was just trying to scare me. _

 

“What’s going on? Where are we?” Jughead’s tiered voice came from behind Betty. “What happened? Why do you all look like you’ve been run over by a bus?”

 

“Kind words, as usual, Jughead,” Veronica said. “Lady Jane.”

 

Jughead’s nose scrunched up in distaste. “Ew,” he said. “Are we all here?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good.”

 

“Don’t go back to sleep,” Archie said.

 

“Why?” Jughead whined.

 

“We are leaving the vehicles here.”

 

“Ew,” Jughead exclaimed. “That means walking!”

 

“Does it now?” Cheryl said sarcastically. “I didn’t know that, thank you for enlightening us.”

 

“Your welcome,” Jughead deadpanned. He sighed. “I suppose it’s safer. But that also means we have to leave things behind. Only take what we can carry.”

 

They all walked over to the cars (well, car and minivan but I can’t be bothered to keep typing ‘minivan’) and started going through all their belongings. They took out all the bags they had and separated them into a category for either food, clothes or any other positions that they had. Everyone had to carry something. 

 

Betty watched Jughead as he placed three books in front of him like he was trying to work out which one to take with him. He hadn't noticed her until she stepped on a twig that snapped loudly. Jughead spun around in surprise to see her standing there.

 

“Oh,” he said. “It’s you.”

 

“Is there a problem with that?”

 

Jughead looked back at the books trying to hide them from her. “No.”

 

“Then why are you hiding books from me? It’s not like I care that you read. What books are they?”

 

Jughead picked them up and handed them to her.

 

“ _ To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby  _ and  _ Pride and Prejudice _ ,” Betty read out loud. “These are classics.”

 

“I know,” Jughead said. “And I don’t know which one to take with me.”

 

“I’ll make it easy for you,” Betty said. She tucked  _ To Kill a Mockingbird  _ under her arm and then placed the other two books in the pocket of the seat.

 

“Why that one?” Jughead asked. “Not that I’m complaining that’s my favourite.”

 

“I figgered. I chose it because it was at the top of the pile and we need to get going.” 

 

“Oh. I’ll get my gloves then,” Jughead said, walking away from her. Betty suddenly felt really cold.

 

_ Right, he’s a walking furnace.  _

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @jellybeanb2112
> 
> (I'm sorry if some things are spelt wrong, I can’t spell and I'm Australian so I spell things differently .-.)


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